In brief
- Recruitment payments tied to labor trafficking typically range between $1,000 and $10,000.
- Prostitution and escort networks are turning to stablecoins.
- CSAM sites disproportionately rely on U.S.-based hosting infrastructure, according to geographic analysis.
Crypto use in suspected human trafficking rose 85% in 2025, reaching “hundreds of millions of dollars across identified services,” according to Chainalysis.
Released Thursday, the 2026 Crypto Crime Report tracked payments tied to escort services, labor recruitment for Southeast Asian scam compounds, and vendors of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM.
According to the firm’s intelligence analyst, Tom McLouth, the findings mark an industry-defining moment.
“I haven’t seen…
