chainalysis

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Federal Claims Court, accusing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of illegally awarding a $94.6 million exclusive contract to competitor TRM Labs. This contract provides forensic software and support services for investigations by the Department of Homeland Security's task force, with a performance period from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. Chainalysis claims this is the largest blockchain analysis contract awarded by the U.S. government to date.In the complaint, Chainalysis pointed out that ICE issued a Request for Information (RFI) on May 28, which included 18 questions regarding capabilities such as a proprietary fraud victim database, AI agent data retrieval, automatic notifications for virtual asset service providers (VASP) to execute voluntary freezes, and collaboration with stablecoin issuers. However, many of the RFI requests did not appear in the final Statement of Need released less than two weeks later, while ICE's market research determined that Chainalysis could not meet the needs based on RFI standards. Chainalysis also noted that "sexual extortion," which was not mentioned in the RFI, became one of the three main task areas in the Statement of Need, and some requirements closely matched TRM's proprietary product architecture.Chainalysis claims it was the only company to submit a capability statement, but ICE completed its market research the next day, determining that TRM was the only vendor capable of meeting all the requirements, and did not pose any follow-up questions to it.

Chainalysis' latest report shows that the potential taxable on-chain cryptocurrency activity globally will reach at least $457 billion by 2025, while the OECD's Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) covers only about 14% of the on-chain taxable activities. The report estimates that the United States contributes approximately $112.6 billion, with North America leading at $134.6 billion, followed closely by the European Union at $125.1 billion.This estimate includes income generated from realized gains, mining, staking, and lending, as well as payments denominated in crypto assets, but does not include trading activities within centralized exchanges. The CARF will start data collection on January 1, 2026, across 48 jurisdictions, including the UK and EU, requiring eligible crypto platforms to collect customer and tax resident information and report transaction data to domestic tax authorities for cross-border sharing.The report points out that the CARF's design, centered around crypto intermediaries, is the main reason for the coverage gap. Colby Mangels, a former OECD advisor involved in the development of the CARF, stated that the framework is designed around intermediaries that conduct crypto transactions as their business, which leaves a significant amount of decentralized finance activities outside the reporting scope due to the lack of centralized operators or custodial relationships. Mangels noted that tax authorities are focusing on the progress of anti-money laundering regulations, including when DeFi platforms or their operators should be considered regulated crypto service providers.

Data shows that the global potential taxable cryptocurrency activity reaches $457 billion, of which the CARF framework can only cover about 14% of the capital flow.

According to Bitcoin.com, blockchain analysis company Chainalysis announced the results of "Operation Lighthouse": this multinational operation focused on networks related to Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) crimes, investigating 29,120 cryptocurrency addresses and digital identifiers, covering over 100 surface web and dark web platforms, forums, and distribution networks, generating 14,300 investigative leads, and identifying over 7,700 suspicious accounts and associated suspects across 125 countries.The operation was organized by the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance in New York, involving at least 9 law enforcement agencies, more than 13 private entities and non-profit organizations, including Europol, the Australian Federal Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the National Crime Agency of the UK. Chainalysis stated that the related leads may subsequently result in account restrictions, arrests, and prosecutions, with law enforcement outcomes expected to continue until 2027, and plans to expand this collaborative model to other cryptocurrency crime activities.

According to CoinDesk, Chainalysis organized a multi-day operation called "Operation Lighthouse," utilizing blockchain intelligence to investigate networks disseminating child sexual abuse materials. The operation is headquartered at the National Cyber Crime Forensics and Training Alliance in New York and collaborates with global law enforcement agencies such as Europol, the Australian Federal Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the UK's National Crime Agency.The operation investigated over 29,000 cryptocurrency addresses and digital identifiers, identified more than 100 related forums and hubs, and generated over 14,000 investigative leads, with suspects located in 125 countries, some of whom are registered sex offenders. Several cryptocurrency companies participated, including payment company Block and nonprofit organizations like the Internet Observation Foundation.Gavin Sather, Senior Project Manager for Anti-Child Exploitation at Binance, stated that the transparency of blockchain makes it difficult for criminals to hide their crimes for long periods.

According to Decrypt, blockchain forensics company Chainalysis Government Solutions filed a procurement protest on July 27 in the U.S. Federal Claims Court, opposing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarding a contract worth approximately $94.6 million to competitor TRM Labs through a sole-source method.The contract period is from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, involving blockchain forensics software and support services for Homeland Security Investigations into fraud, cybercrime, and sexual extortion cases. Chainalysis believes that ICE's decision is arbitrary and unreasonable. TRM Labs joined the case as an intervenor defendant on July 28, defending the contract alongside the U.S. government.The court allowed Chainalysis to temporarily seal the complaint, with oral arguments scheduled for September 2; ICE stated that after approximately 6 days of market research, it determined that none of the 8 responding companies could meet the requirements.

Chainalysis Government Solutions has sued the U.S. government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims over an exclusive contract. Chainalysis claims that the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) bypassed the normal competitive process and directly awarded the work to TRM Labs. They are requesting the court to stop this action.TRM Labs has joined the lawsuit as an intervenor, defending the award of the contract, with oral arguments scheduled for September 2. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims is responsible for hearing nationwide claims against the U.S. government, typically involving contract disputes and bid protests. Both Chainalysis and TRM Labs sell blockchain analysis tools for government agencies to track cryptocurrency transactions, and they are now competing for government business in court.

According to The Block, Chainalysis' latest report shows that in the first half of 2026, cryptocurrency holders experienced violent robbery incidents (referring to forcing victims to transfer crypto assets through means such as kidnapping, home invasion, and coercion), resulting in over $30 million in property losses.Based on current trends, the total annual losses could exceed the historical record of $58 million set in 2025. The report mentions that France has become a high-incidence area for such attacks, and the information leak incident involving high-net-worth crypto investors from the French tax authorities has further broadened the target selection range for criminals.Chainalysis also stated that such violent crimes are increasingly affecting the victims' families, with the proportion of home invasions and kidnapping cases continuing to rise.

Chainalysis posted on platform X that the Coldcard hack is particularly devastating for Canadian Bitcoin holders. Our analysis of the attackers and victims found that Canadian BTC holders accounted for 25% of the attributable losses.According to estimates compiled by Galaxy Research, the losses could be as high as $110 million, and we analyzed the geographical distribution of this ongoing hacking attack. Users in Australia, the United States, and Thailand also experienced significant losses.

According to a report by Chainalysis, the 2026 World Cup has driven on-chain prediction market trading volume to reach $20 billion since January, along with $24 million in digital collectibles trading volume since May 2025. During the five-week period of the event, nearly 400,000 wallets interacted with the on-chain prediction market, generating approximately $5.7 billion in trading volume, with World Cup-related markets accounting for about 63% of the total prediction market volume during the same period.In addition, FIFA's official digital collectibles platform, FIFA Collect, allows around 100,000 fans to exchange digital assets for match tickets, and its strict KYC process means that the platform has almost no exposure to illegal funds compared to decentralized prediction markets.

According to Bitcoin.com, the Singapore Police Force's Anti-Fraud Centre and Cybercrime Investigation Department, in a six-week joint anti-fraud operation from April 16 to May 31, 2026, collaborated with Coinbase, Coinhako, Gemini, Independent Reserve, OKX, StraitsX, and Upbit to identify potential fraud victims using blockchain analysis tools from Chainalysis and TRM Labs. They conducted over 145 targeted interventions through phone calls and on-site visits, preventing potential losses exceeding $4.2 million.Coinbase Singapore posted on X on July 10, stating that it collaborated with the Singapore Police to prevent over 145 individuals from losing a total of more than $4.2 million due to fraud. The Singapore Police stated that they will continue to work with cryptocurrency exchanges and other private sectors to combat cybercrime.

According to CoinDesk, blockchain analysis company Chainalysis has released a new methodological proposal aimed at establishing a unified on-chain fund tracking standard framework for law enforcement agencies and investigators, to identify address clusters and determine their possible control relationships.The proposal defines the on-chain analysis structure in the form of "ontology," focusing on systematically breaking down the currently unstandardized concept of "cluster" in the industry into wallet segments and functional roles, and describing on-chain relationships through a two-layer structure: the first layer defines the transaction graph structure, and the second layer assesses inference confidence.Chainalysis stated that the framework aims to enhance the interpretability and legal applicability of on-chain forensic methods, and is designed and validated based on its practical experience in relevant cases within the U.S. Department of Justice, including the analytical application in the mixing service Bitcoin Fog case.The company's Chief Scientist Jacob Illum pointed out that the goal of the proposal is to answer "on what evidence basis can these addresses be considered to belong to the same entity," while emphasizing that on-chain analysis itself cannot directly identify the ultimate user identity and still requires legal investigative methods combined with centralized entities such as exchanges.Chainalysis indicated that the standard proposal is currently open for discussion within the industry, hoping to promote the formation of more unified technical specifications for on-chain analysis methods in the fields of law enforcement and compliance.

According to a report by Chainalysis, over the past six months, at least $36.7 million has been stolen from protocols with unverified source code, involving protocols such as Truebit, Trusted Volumes, Aperture Finance, and Ekubo. Attackers are searching for vulnerabilities by decompiling the original bytecode. AI-assisted vulnerability exploitation development is accelerating this trend, as large language models can scale the identification of vulnerability patterns.Chainalysis points out that unverified contracts lack community review and are often excluded from bug bounty programs. The barrier to AI decompilation and vulnerability analysis is rapidly decreasing, allowing attackers to systematically scan thousands of unverified contracts. Protocols should verify all contract code, audit the contracts actually deployed, expand the coverage of bug bounties, and implement real-time on-chain monitoring. Each unverified contract is a potential target for automated scanning, and relying solely on obfuscation as a security measure is no longer effective.

According to The Block, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis has released a latest report indicating that as the gray market peptide industry scales surpasses an annualized $100 million, leading suppliers are accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin and stablecoins as primary settlement tools.In Q1 2026, cryptocurrency inflows into the industry reached $32 million, a month-on-month surge of 159%. Due to traditional banks and credit card payment channels generally imposing bans on prescription-grade compounds and unregulated substances, a large number of Chinese chemical manufacturers are turning to cryptocurrency to complete transactions, with high-value orders particularly favoring stablecoins to avoid price volatility risks.

A recent report from blockchain analysis company Chainalysis points out that compliance standards in the cryptocurrency industry are tightening significantly, with about 47% of organizations entering the market in 2026 having pre-warning standards that can reach the strict levels of the top 10% of the industry in 2020. This indicates that the entire ecosystem is maturing rapidly, with newcomers equipped with more aggressive monitoring measures from the outset.The report shows that companies' "direct monitoring" of funds coming directly from known illegal sources has become consistent and strict, but there is still a significant gap in "indirect monitoring" of funds flowing through intermediary addresses. For example, the indirect risk warning thresholds for categories such as ransomware and fraudulent stores on cryptocurrency trading platforms are often 10 to 100 times higher than direct thresholds. The Chainalysis team points out that this gap between direct and indirect monitoring creates opportunities for illegal actors. Companies that can bridge this gap will not only enhance their regulatory defenses but also distinguish themselves as trustworthy counterparties.The report suggests that this indicates the industry is in a transitional period, having achieved specialization in direct risk management but not yet treating indirect risks with the same rigor. The elevation of industry compliance standards is a response to increasingly stringent regulations and ongoing threats from entities such as North Korean hacker groups. In 2025 alone, hackers linked to North Korea caused approximately $2 billion in cryptocurrency losses.

According to a report by the blockchain analysis platform Chainalysis, the economic and financial police department of Foggia, Italy, recently uncovered a tax evasion case. The individuals involved are suspected of using the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol and the BRC-20 token standard to create and resell tokens, concealing approximately $1.1 million (€1 million) in capital gains on-chain, with the profits continuously reinvested into new inscription operations.Chainalysis pointed out that although such emerging technological means may seem covert, the inherent transparency of blockchain leaves a permanent and immutable record of transactions. Blockchain intelligence can effectively track tax evasion by reconstructing financial networks and cross-referencing exchange declaration data. The agency warned that as new categories of digital assets continue to emerge, the gap between real on-chain wealth and declared tax status will become a key investigation target for global law enforcement agencies.

Chainalysis posted on the X platform that before the theft of THORChain, wallets suspected to be associated with the attacker had been transferring funds through Monero, Hyperliquid, and THORChain for several weeks. The attacker-associated wallets had already deposited into Hyperliquid positions via the Hyperliquid and Monero privacy bridge as early as the end of April. The funds were then exchanged for USDC and transferred to Arbitrum, and later bridged to Ethereum, with some ETH subsequently transferred to THORChain to become staked RUNE for newly added nodes, which are believed to be the source of the attack.Afterward, the attacker bridged some RUNE back to Ethereum and split it into four pathways, one of which went directly to the attacker. After being transferred through intermediate wallets, 8 ETH was sent to the final wallet receiving the stolen funds 43 minutes before the attack. The funds from the other three pathways flowed in the opposite direction. These wallets bridged ETH back to Arbitrum, deposited it into Hyperliquid, and transferred it into Monero through the same privacy bridge, with the last transaction occurring less than 5 hours before the attack began.As of Friday afternoon, the stolen funds have not yet been used, but the attacker has demonstrated their skilled cross-chain money laundering capabilities, and the Hyperliquid to Monero path may become the next move.

The prediction market platform Polymarket has partnered with blockchain analysis company Chainalysis to monitor trading activities and enforce market rules in response to concerns about insider trading and market integrity.The two parties announced on Thursday that Chainalysis will provide a comprehensive set of tools, including investigative software and on-chain monitoring systems, to identify suspicious behavior. Its models are designed to detect patterns consistent with "trading based on non-public information." This move comes as regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets is increasing. Critics argue that platforms like Polymarket may be susceptible to influence from insiders (such as political staff or corporate employees) who place "information advantage bets" before information is made public. Such behavior is illegal and heavily regulated in traditional financial markets, but regulatory definitions remain unclear in the crypto prediction market space.Polymarket's response is to enhance the transparency advantages of blockchain. Since all transactions are recorded on-chain, trading activities can be tracked and analyzed post-factum. By overlaying Chainalysis's data tools, the company hopes to identify suspicious transactions in real-time and provide relevant evidence to regulators when necessary.

Polymarket announced the launch of a comprehensive on-chain market integrity monitoring system solution to monitor trading behavior and enforce platform market compliance rules. This system will be built in collaboration with blockchain data analytics company Chainalysis, covering all DeFi trading processes on Polymarket, including real-time on-chain analysis of trading, holdings, and settlement data. It will identify potential violations through a multi-layer monitoring mechanism, focusing on insider trading and market manipulation.Polymarket stated that all its transactions are completed on a public blockchain. This collaboration will further amplify the advantages of on-chain transparency, allowing regulatory agencies and law enforcement to obtain verifiable on-chain evidence, thereby establishing a new compliance standard in the predictive market field. Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan stated that the platform has emphasized transparency and traceability since its inception, and this collaboration will further strengthen its positioning as a "trusted source of market information."

According to market news, the Korean National Tax Service has issued a tender announcement, planning to introduce cryptocurrency transaction tracking software from institutions such as Chainalysis and TRM Labs to monitor cryptocurrency transaction records in real-time, track hidden assets of suspected tax evaders, and combat tax evasion behaviors through disguised inheritance, gifting, and offshore tax evasion using cryptocurrency.The system can track approximately 70 million types of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and stablecoins, covering 45 blockchain layers. It also has the capability to identify "mixing" money laundering techniques with its "de-mixing" ability and can perform a certain degree of identity recognition for non-custodial wallets such as MetaMask and Phantom. This is the third time the National Tax Service has introduced related solutions since 2024, with plans to complete system construction in June and officially put it into use starting in July.