Cyber: Ransomware Payment Rate Drops To Record Low As Attacks Surge

The number of ransomware victims paying threat actors has dropped to 28% last year, an all-time low, despite a significant increase in the number of claimed attacks.

A downward payment trend has been observed for the past four consecutive years by the blockchain intelligence platform Chainalysis.

At the moment, the total of on-chain ransomware payments in 2025 stands at $820 million, but the company notes that "the 2025 total is likely to approach or exceed $900 million as we attribute more events and payments."

Chainalysis reports a relative stability in the total number of payments, despite a 50% increase of ransomware attacks year-over-year.

In 2024, the payment rate recorded by Chainalysis was more than double, at 62.8%, while in 2022, it was at 78.9%.

Data from Chainalysis also aligns with previous reports by Coveware, which showed a steady decline in victim payment rates throughout 2025.

According to the blockchain company, some of the factors that influenced the ransomware economy include improved incident response, regulatory scrutiny, international law enforcement actions, and market fragmentation.

Current Chainalysis data shows that while aggregate revenue from ransomware activity declined, the median ransom payment rose significantly, up 368% from $12,738 in 2024 to $59,556 in 2025.

This indicates that ransomware victims pay larger amounts for the hope that cybercriminals will delete the stolen data and not sell it to other threat actors or trade it.

In 2025, the analysts observed 85 active extortion groups, far higher compared to previous years, when the ransomware space was dominated by a small number of threat groups and RaaS platforms.

Source: BleepingComputer