Crypto-enabled crime is no longer confined to the hidden corners of the internet. It now finances state adversaries, empowers organized crime, and drains billions from ordinary citizens through scams and fraud. In 2024 alone, crypto crime cost the world $40.9 billion and is projected to reach $51+ billion by the end of the year.
The threat is global, moving across borders, exploiting gaps in regulation, and hiding in the complexity of blockchains.
- Investigators are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cases and evolving criminal tactics.
- Businesses suffer from attacks and fraud losses that erode customer trust.
- Governments risk undermining the rule of law if perpetrators cannot be brought to justice.
Without a proven system, crime flourishes. Investigators and institutions face an essential choice: act with a trusted partner and reliable intelligence, or fall behind criminal networks that know no boundaries.
That’s why our mission at Chainalysis is clear: to build trust in blockchains. Trust is the foundation of justice, security, and markets.
- Without credible data, investigators miss the truth.
- Without robust technology, insights cannot stand.
- Without seasoned expertise, criminals escape, victims lose, and societies suffer.
The Chainalysis investigations suite
For investigations, that mission must translate into action. It is not enough to respond to the crime after it happens. The measure of a credible system is whether it helps societies move faster than adversaries: to discover early signals, analyze them with clarity, and pursue outcomes that prevent further harm.
The Chainalysis investigations suite is the only end-to-end system built for this task. It delivers confidence throughout the investigative lifecycle:
Discover: From noise to foresight
Actionable intelligence brings foresight. It separates background noise from true threats, surfaces the right signals early, and empowers investigators, regulators, and businesses to quickly prioritize what matters — before risks become losses.
Analyze: From complexity to clarity
Criminals exploit obfuscation. Robust technology cuts through it. It connects wallets, mixers, and DeFi services into a coherent story. Clarity is the bridge from suspicion to conviction.
Pursue: From reaction to prevention
Specialized expertise, reinforced by strong ecosystem partnerships, turn intelligence into outcomes — assets recovered, victims protected, adversaries deterred. With each seizure, conviction, and disrupted criminal organization, we move beyond reaction and toward prevention.
Together, these pillars form a comprehensive approach to crypto investigations — proven through results.
Trust in action: Global cases that changed the game
The ultimate test of credibility is impact. Since pioneering blockchain intelligence in 2014, we have built a track record that has secured the confidence of 1,500+ governments, businesses, and institutions worldwide.
That record sets the standard — working together with our customers and partners to take stronger, coordinated action across jurisdictions, even against the most sophisticated criminal infrastructures.
Recent highlights include:
- Intelbroker takedown, June 2025: French police, U.S. prosecutors, and exchanges used Chainalysis to trace crypto flows to link IntelBroker’s digital persona to his real identity, leading to five arrests in a global operation.
- First-of-its-kind public-private initiative to disrupt and prevent scams, July 2024: Chainalysis-led operational sprints exposed $187M+ in scam losses, identified 7,000+ leads, and enabled 19 agencies and 18 exchanges across 6 countries to seize funds and disrupt scams.
- APAC Pig Butchering funds freeze, June 2024: In collaboration with OKX, Binance, Tether, and regional law enforcement, Chainalysis helped trace and freeze $47M in USDT tied to Southeast Asia–based pig butchering scams.
- U.S. and Canada join forces to combat scams, seizing millions in crypto, June 2024: With Chainalysis intelligence, Tether and major exchanges partnered with U.S. and Canadian agencies to uncover $70M in scam losses and freeze $50M in USDT, blocking criminals from cashing out.
- Russian-Swedish operator of ‘Bitcoin Fog’ convicted, March 2024: With Chainalysis support, the U.S. DOJ, IRS-CI, FBI, Europol, and Swedish and Romanian authorities dismantled one of the darknet’s longest-running mixers, convicting its operator of laundering $400M+ in illicit crypto.
- U.S. and U.K. disrupt Lockbit, February 2024: The NCA, DOJ, FBI, and international law enforcement partners, powered by Chainalysis intelligence, dismantled Lockbit’s infrastructure, indicted affiliates, and froze sanctioned crypto addresses.
- Spanish National Police crypto Ponzi scheme recovery, May 2023: Spanish authorities, supported by Chainalysis, dismantled a $500M global Ponzi scheme, arresting six suspects and recovering $21M through cross-border collaboration.
- Hezbollah and Iran Quds Force seizure, June 2023: Israeli authorities, supported by Chainalysis, recovered $1.7M in crypto tied to Hezbollah and Iran’s Quds Force — the first ever Hezbollah-linked digital asset seizure.
- Ronin Bridge hack recovery, September 2022: Law enforcement, with Chainalysis support, recovered $30M in crypto stolen by North Korean-linked hackers – the first DPRK crypto recovery.
- Bitfinex hack recovery, February 2022: The IRS-CI, FBI, and HSI, recovered $3.6B in crypto — the largest asset recovery from a theft – in connection with the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
- Silk Road darknet market hack recovery, November 2021: U.S. authorities, supported by Chainalysis, seized $3.36B+ in Bitcoin stolen from Silk Road.
The path forward: learn, prepare, and act
Crypto-enabled crime is borderless. Our approach must be, too.
The future of security, markets, and trust in digital assets will depend on our combined ability to act with clarity and conviction. Chainalysis will continue to lead with the intelligence, technology, expertise, and partnerships that make this possible.
Since our foundation, we have led this mission with outcomes that matter: billions seized, criminal networks dismantled, victims protected. Today, more than 1,500 global institutions — including 49+ regulators and 9 of the top 10 exchanges — rely on Chainalysis, because no other provider can match the ecosystem scale, enterprise depth, and global reach required to tackle these challenges at speed and at scale.
That record of trust in action will remain our compass as we continue to innovate — keeping our customers ahead of adversaries and safeguarding the financial system. This is how we build trust in blockchains. This is how, together, we secure the future of finance.
Want to go deeper?
Join our upcoming Crypto Clues 101: Triage essentials for Government investigators webinar on Sept 10, a practical companion to the guide, offering hands-on insights into recognising crypto clues, deciding what matters, and when to escalate. You’ll also hear directly from the U.K. National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on best practices and operational lessons.
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