Chainalysis | Crypto

Around 47% of crypto organizations onboarded in 2026 are operating at alerting standards that would have ranked among the industry’s strictest five years ago. Nearly half of the organizations onboarded into the crypto industry in 2026 are operating at alerting standards that would have made them industry leaders only a few years ago, according to Chainalysis. In a preview of a report published on Wednesday, Chainalysis said that the crypto industry’s compliance baseline around alert severity, trigger sensitivity and minimum dollar detection floors is tightening, with about 47% of organizations onboarded this year using alerting standards that would have placed them in the top 10% of strictness in 2020. It added that companies have become more uniform in direct monitoring, where funds arrive immediately from a known illicit source, but there is still a gap with indirect monitoring, where the funds pass through intermediary addresses. Read more

Italian authorities uncovered a tax evasion scheme in which an individual allegedly used Bitcoin Ordinals and the BRC-20 token standard to generate and conceal $1.1 million. Tax dodgers have started turning to Bitcoin Ordinals, BRC-20 tokens and other digital methods in an attempt to hide their wealth from tax authorities, according to blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis. “Tax evasion and unreported income are age-old financial crimes, but the methods used to commit them are rapidly evolving,” Chainalysis said in a report Wednesday. Tax authorities have been scrambling to catch up with technological advances and to track and apply taxes. A March study estimated that only 32% to 56% of US crypto owners report their gains. In Norway, that percentage was only 12%, according to a study from August 2024.  Read more

By partnering with Chainalysis to monitor its blockchain data in real-time, Polymarket is signaling to both users and regulators that it is serious about eliminating insider trading and market manipulation.

Crypto’s transparent ledger makes sanctions evasion easier to trace, allowing authorities to track and potentially freeze illicit flows. Shipping firms that turn to cryptocurrency to pay potential transit fees to Iran could face significant sanctions exposure, according to Kaitlin Martin, senior intelligence analyst at Chainalysis. Martin told Cointelegraph that under the current sanctions framework, any payments made to the Iranian regime, including those tied to passage through key waterways, could be interpreted as “material support,” putting companies at risk of violating US and international restrictions. “Doing so could carry significant sanctions violation risk, as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is sanctioned by multiple jurisdictions and Iran is subject to comprehensive sanctions by the United States,” she said. Read more

Generational wealth transfer and point-of-sale adoption could drive stablecoin volumes to eclipse traditional payment rails, says Chainalysis.

The analytics platform said it would begin rolling out the agents over the summer for use in investigations and compliance. Chainalysis is introducing blockchain intelligence agents which the analytics platform expects will provide investigative skills to users seeking AI solutions. In a Tuesday announcement at the Chainalysis Links conference in New York City, the company said the “blockchain intelligence agents” differ from typical AI tools based on language models, likening them to an “experienced analyst working at machine speed.” The company expects to phase in the agents this summer in an effort for companies to scale their approach to cryptocurrencies. Read more

Larger crypto payments to darknet markets were linked to higher stimulant hospitalizations and deaths in Canadian health data. Blockchain transaction data tied to cryptocurrency payments may provide an early signal of emerging drug crises, according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The study, which examined illicit market activity across darknet drug and fraud ecosystems, found that crypto flows connected to darknet markets reached nearly $2.6 billion in 2025, showing that online drug markets continue to operate at scale despite repeated law-enforcement takedowns. Vendors typically receive payments from personal wallets and centralized exchanges. Beyond measuring criminal activity, Chainalysis argued that the data can track real-world health outcomes. Crypto payments to suppliers of fentanyl precursor chemicals declined sharply beginning in mid-2023. Months later, overdose deaths also fell in the United States and Canada after peaking in 2023. Read more

Chainalysis says that despite the rising use of crypto in trafficking networks, the transparency of blockchain may give visibility into the operations, aiding law enforcement. Crypto flows to suspected human trafficking networks increased 85% year over year in 2025, but crypto analytics firm Chainalysis said blockchain transparency could help disrupt the operations. Chainalysis said in a report on Thursday that the total transaction volume to suspected trafficking networks, largely based in Southeast Asia, reached “hundreds of millions of dollars across identified services.”  It added that the services are “closely aligned” to scam compounds, online casinos, and Chinese-language money-laundering networks, which have recently grown in popularity. Read more

Suspected trafficking-related crypto flows reached hundreds of millions, Chainalysis reported, with one CSAM site topping $530,000.

Chainalysis says the on-chain money laundering ecosystem processed $82 billion in funds in 2025, with Chinese-language networks now dominating. The use of centralized crypto exchanges for laundering illicit funds is on the decline, with Chinese-language money laundering networks now being used more than ever, according to Chainalysis. Chainalysis said in a report on Tuesday that informal service-based networks offered through Chinese-speaking channels have a wide variety of laundering-as-a-service businesses that use money mules, informal over-the-counter trade desks, and gambling platforms to mix and swap crypto. The networks emerged during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, and now “dominate known crypto money laundering activity.” Read more

Chinese-language networks now handle a disproportionate share of global crypto money laundering flows, according to a new Chainalysis report.

The feature allows non-technical teams to conduct onchain investigations and compliance analyses without relying on custom code. Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis has rolled out a new automation feature aimed at broadening access to onchain investigative and compliance tools beyond technical users. The feature, called Workflows, allows investigators and compliance teams to run predefined blockchain analyses without writing code, reducing reliance on custom SQL or Python queries. Chainalysis told Cointelegraph that the tool is intended to standardize common investigative processes with prebuilt templates, making them easier to repeat and apply across multiple cases, as the company adapts its data products for a wider range of users. “What previously required technical expertise and lots of time, can now be done by any user in minutes,” said Ekim Buyuk, senior product manager at Chainalysis. “Instead of asking users to understand data schemas, it asks investigation-level questions such as which actors, w...

Bitcoin has become an “element of resistance" in Iran, providing liquidity in an increasingly restricted economic environment, says Chainalysis. Crypto usage in Iran has spiked amid the country’s mass protests, with a surge of Iranians withdrawing Bitcoin to preserve value amid instability, according to Chainalysis. Protests in Iran began around Dec. 28 over worsening economic conditions, after the Iranian rial hit record lows against the US dollar. Demonstrations escalated nationwide, with Iran’s regime responding by cutting internet access, carrying out mass arrests, and reportedly killing thousands. Chainalysis said in a report on Thursday that Iran’s crypto ecosystem hit $7.78 billion in 2025, which accelerated amid the ongoing unrest with a substantial increase in the number of daily crypto transfers and the amounts transacted. Read more

A new report by Chainalysis finds that AI-enabled crypto scams are more efficient, profitable, and harder to stop.

Scams and fraud against individuals are increasing and if the trend continues, they could soon surpass crypto stolen via cyberattacks, Chainalysis said.

Chainalysis reported illicit crypto surged 162% in 2025, led by sanctioned entities, North Korean hacks, Russian tokens, and laundering networks.

Pig-butchering scams are expanding into a transnational crime model, blending trafficking and crypto laundering on a massive scale. The multibillion-dollar scam known as “pig-butchering,” once treated as a consumer-fraud issue, has crossed a new threshold and is prompting concerns over national security.  In a podcast, Chainalysis head of national security intelligence, Andrew Fierman, and former prosecutor Erin West, founder of cross-sector anti-scam nonprofit Operation Shamrock, discussed how pig butchering is becoming a threat to national security.  “So if anybody is touching money in any way, you’re part of this. So you need to be prepared to understand the threat and the gravity of what’s happening on a national security level,” West said, highlighting the importance of education and awareness in combating crypto scams.  Read more

Turkey’s $200 billion crypto market leads the MENA region, but has been fueled more by speculative activity than by sustainable adoption, according to Chainalysis. Turkey has emerged as the leading crypto market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2025, with volumes significantly outpacing those of other markets, including the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, which has grappled with high inflation in recent years, dominated MENA’s crypto market in the past year, recording almost $200 billion in annual transactions, according to the latest regional report by Chainalysis published Thursday. The UAE, the region’s second-largest market, lagged far behind, with crypto volumes of $53 billion, almost four times smaller than those of Turkey. Read more

Russia’s rapid DeFi expansion and increase in large-value transfers indicate growing adoption of crypto for financial services, according to Chainalysis. Crypto adoption in European countries like the United Kingdom and Germany is lagging behind Russia, according to the latest report from US blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Russia emerged as the leading crypto market in Chainalysis’ latest European Crypto Adoption report, receiving $376.3 billion in crypto between July 2024 and June 2025. Published Thursday, the report combines analyses of regions previously examined separately, covering Central, Northern, and Western Europe, as well as Eastern Europe as a whole. Read more

Chainalysis says $75 billion in crypto tied to illicit activity could be recoverable — a figure that may influence nations weighing official crypto reserves. As the United States and other countries weigh the prospect of building national cryptocurrency reserves, new research from Chainalysis suggests governments may already be within reach of tens of billions of dollars in potentially recoverable onchain assets — a development that could intersect with those reserve discussions. In a report published Thursday, Chainalysis estimated that crypto balances linked to illicit activity exceed $75 billion. That total includes roughly $15 billion held directly by illicit entities and more than $60 billion in wallets with downstream exposure to those entities. The blockchain analytics company said darknet market operators and vendors control more than $40 billion in crypto assets on the blockchain. Read more