Ransomware payments are down according to Chainalysis, but it may be a little too early to celebrate.

Victims are realizing that paying the ransom only encourages more attacks, so payoffs are not happening as much – lowering by 35% from last year. Additionally, crackdowns by law enforcement are putting pressure on the bad actors and the cryptocurrency systems they prefer to transact the ransom payments.

https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/crypto-crime-ransomware-victim-extortion-2025/