Chainalysis

Chainalysis, Inc.
IndustryBlockchain analysis
Founded2014; 12 years ago (2014)
FoundersMichael Gronager
Jan Møller
Jonathan Levin
Headquarters
114 Fifth Avenue. New York City, New York
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Jonathan Levin, CEO
Number of employees
900[1][2] (2023)
Websitewww.chainalysis.com Edit this at Wikidata

Chainalysis is an American blockchain analysis firm headquartered in New York City.[3] The company was co-founded by Michael Gronager, Jan Møller and Jonathan Levin in 2014,[4][5] and is the first start-up company dedicated to the business of Bitcoin tracing.[6] It offers compliance and investigation software to analyze the blockchain public ledger, which is primarily used to track virtual currencies.[7] Along with banks and brokers[8] its customers have included the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, as well as the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency.[9]

History

Chainalysis was formed to be the official investigator of the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox when Gronager was the COO of Kraken, which was then employed by the bankruptcy trustee for Mt. Gox to investigate the hack.[10][11] The company was co-founded by Michael Gronager, Jan Møller and Jonathan Levin in 2014.[4]

The company developed proprietary financial crime investigation software which monitors cryptocurrency's public ledger, forming the first full view of transactions on the blockchain.[12][7]

In March 2021, it partnered with crypto compliance company Notabene to comply with the FATF's Travel Rule across jurisdictions.[13] American business publication Fast Company referred to this partnership one of the top 10 most innovative joint ventures of 2022.[14]

In May 2024, Chainalysis moved its regional headquarters for the Southern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa regions to Dubai.[15]

Noted investigations

Chainalysis has helped law enforcement recover cryptocurrencies from illegal enterprises, including, in 2020, assisting law enforcement to recover over $1 billion from the take-down of the dark web marketplace Silk Road.[7][16] In October 2019, the company helped the United States Department of Justice shut down the world's then-largest child abuse website.[17] Chainalysis also aided in the attribution of seven 2021 cryptocurrency thefts to the North Korean Lazarus Group.[18]

Working with American investigators and the South Korean National Intelligence Service, the company tracked $100 million stolen from a California cryptocurrency firm Harmony to North Korean hackers, who have stolen billions of dollars from banks and cryptocurrency firms, funding its illegal missile program. $1 million of the stolen funds were recovered in April 2023.[19]

In April 2022, Chainalysis came under intense scrutiny during the trial of Roman Sterlingov, who was accused of operating Bitcoin Fog, one of the oldest and most widely used bitcoin mixing services for anonymizing transactions. The U.S. prosecution based a key part of its case on blockchain analysis conducted by Chainalysis to link historical Bitcoin transactions to Sterlingov and argue that he was the operator of the platform.[20]

Several experts and activists questioned the reliability and methodological transparency of the Chainalysis forensic tools used during the trial, arguing that some of the conclusions were probabilistic and difficult to independently audit. They also pointed out that the case could set a problematic precedent by allowing convictions based on proprietary blockchain analysis without sufficient public scrutiny or technical reproducibility.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Chainalysis". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  2. ^ "Crypto-Sector Firm Chainalysis Cuts Jobs in Reorganization (1)". news.bloombergtax.com. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  3. ^ "Chainalysis doubling headquarters size with 4-floor lease in the Flatiron district". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  4. ^ a b "Success story: Chainalysis". Rise created by Barclays. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  5. ^ Greenberg, Andy (January 16, 2024). Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-593-31561-3.
  6. ^ "How Investigators Are Tracing Crypto Criminals". Time. 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  7. ^ a b c Wolf, Brett (2020-12-23). "US law enforcers partner with cryptocurrency tracking firm to fight financial crime". Thomson Reuters Institute. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  8. ^ "Chainalysis Customers". www.cbinsights.com. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  9. ^ Greenberg, Andy. "How Bitcoin Tracers Took Down the Web's Biggest Child Abuse Site". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  10. ^ "Crypto boom continues as Chainalysis raises $100M, doubles valuation to over $2B". TechCrunch. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  11. ^ Tom Redmond. (20 September 2022). "The $8.6 Billion Startup That Helps Governments Trace Crypto". Bloomberg website Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  12. ^ McMillan, Robert (12 April 2023). "The U.S. Cracked a $3.4 Billion Crypto Heist—and Bitcoin's Anonymity". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  13. ^ Team, Chainalysis (2021-03-15). "Notabene and Chainalysis Partner to Bring Scalable Travel Rule Solution to Cryptocurrency Businesses". Chainalysis. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  14. ^ Lidsky, David (2022-03-08). "The 10 most innovative joint ventures of 2022". Fast Company. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  15. ^ Release, Press. "Global blockchain intelligence leader, Chainalysis, establishes regional HQ in Dubai". www.zawya.com. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  16. ^ Browne, Ryan (2021-03-26). "Bitcoin sleuthing start-up Chainalysis doubles valuation to $2 billion with Benioff backing". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  17. ^ Greenberg, Andy. "Inside the Bitcoin Bust That Took Down the Web's Biggest Child Abuse Site". Wired. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  18. ^ Greenberg, Andy. "North Korean Hackers Stole Nearly $400M in Crypto Last Year". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  19. ^ Lyngaas, Sean (2023-04-09). "Inside the international sting operation to catch North Korean crypto hackers | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  20. ^ Newman, Lily Hay. "Bitcoin Fog Case Could Put Cryptocurrency Tracing on Trial". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  21. ^ ForkLog (2023-08-10). "Experts challenge Chainalysis evidence in Bitcoin Fog mixer case | ForkLog". forklog.media (in Russian). Retrieved 2026-05-24.

Further reading

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