Prominent digital asset and blockchain analytics firms have pledged to disrupt the financial flows behind the illegal wildlife trade, joining a coalition of technology companies convened by the Prince of Wales in London on 22 Jun.
Crypto Firms Join Prince of Wales Coalition To Fight Wildlife Trafficking
22 June 2026 - 17:20 CEST
By Isabelle Castro
Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Luno and PayPal said they will work to trace and cut off payments that underpin wildlife trafficking – a trade the United Nations Environment Programme estimates is worth as much as $23bn a year. UN backed assessments also warn that roughly 1mn plant and animal species face extinction, partly because of illegal trade.
The pledge came at a business forum hosted by the Royal Foundation's United for Wildlife, marking the start of London Climate Action Week.
Cracking down
Low penalties for wildlife trafficking have led criminals to sell endangered species and illegal animal products openly on mainstream social media and e-commerce platforms.
"In terms of risk versus reward, the rewards far outweigh the risks for traffickers. So we see them trading openly a lot. There's no need to trade on the dark web," said Robert Campbell, programme director of United for Wildlife, in the Chainalysis Crypto Crime 2025 report published in May.
Enforcement agencies are turning to money-laundering statutes that carry heavier sentences. Firms such as Chainalysis are supporting the effort by tracking onchain financial flows. "Crypto's transparency is an opportunity, not a threat," Campbell said in the report.
Operating in the open
The lack of perceived risk has led wildlife traffickers to operate brazenly within crypto networks. Chainalysis research found that traffickers often rely on regulated, KYC-compliant exchanges rather than sophisticated laundering tools, allowing investigators to follow funds onchain, map criminal networks and identify individual sellers.
Payments from suspected trafficking wallets were seen clustering within exchanges, and crypto ATMs have been used to convert cash into digital assets for cross-border transfer.
Despite onchain data proving effective for tracking illicit transactions, many law enforcement agencies lack the expertise to use it. The coalition firms will provide training and education.
"There's such a lack of understanding of how crypto functions and how wildlife trafficking can be used for crypto," Campbell said. "Having Chainalysis provide simple, clear training has already been incredibly effective."
The crypto firms join Google, Meta, TikTok and Alibaba in the coalition, with the technology giants committing to using artificial intelligence to detect and remove illicit wildlife listings before they reach buyers.
