The Oval Warns to Encrypt Industrial Scale Pig Slaughter Scams and Scams

According to a 2025 Typologies report by Blockchain Analytics company Elliptic, pig slaughter, which grew into a multi-billion dollar industry, is pig slaughter.

The study points to an increasingly organized method of washing stolen funds using practices similar to professional financial operations.

Elliptic investigators found that scammers often pool victim deposits and pool them in self-hosted wallets, which are only used to consolidate and move funds. From there, money flows through a chain of transactions designed to obscure its origins, sometimes through cross-chain bridges or payment processing services that provide a veneer of legitimacy.

Common tactics include using mule accounts on a regulated cryptographic platform. These accounts frequently share suspicious markers such as identical addresses, repeated IP logins, and transfer patterns between accounts.

Photos submitted for compliance checks may show operators working in call centers and warehouses in Southeast Asian countries where pig covering operations are known to occur.

The report highlights that unlike cash-based crime, blockchain leaves a visible transaction trail. This transparency provides new tools to find suspicious activity in regulators and platforms, despite scammers improving their methods.

Elliptic also warns that pig slaughtering is just one broader picture. The report also details how individuals facing official sanctions will increasingly turn to Stablecoins for cross-border transactions.