CipherTrace to Tackle 'Modern-Day Slavery' With Crypto Analytics

Blockchain security firm CipherTrace has partnered with the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative to track cryptocurrency transactions from suspected traffickers.

Announced Friday, CipherTrace has provided ATII with access to its user interface, a tool that will allow the organization to track criminal cryptocurrency transactions and help prevent them from accessing financial services.

"CipherTrace will be an instrumental partner in helping us promote corporate responsibility within financial institutions such as cryptocurrency exchanges," said Aaron Kahler, ATII founder and president.

An October update significantly increased the number of cryptocurrencies that CipherTrace's tool was able to track.

Pamela Clegg, CipherTrace's director of financial investigations and education, has joined ATII's advisory board to provide guidance and expertise on how the organization can most effectively track cryptocurrency transactions.

"Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor of commercial sex act," Clegg said in a statement.

Modern human trafficking, which has claimed more than 40 million victims globally, is an industry worth approximately $150 billion, according to statistics from the International Labour Organization.

CipherTrace has already partnered with agencies, including INTERPOL and Lawyers Without Borders, to prevent human traffickers from using cryptocurrencies to sidestep conventional financial controls.

In the past, CipherTrace has been quick to point out instances where cryptocurrency businesses have not complied with financial regulation.

The firm's Q3 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report found that a third of all exchanges had little or no know-your-customer verification checks.