Blockchain and Analytics Guide
Blockchain and Analytics Guide
Blockchain and Analytics Guide
& Analysis
Contents
Business Outcomes 22
Blockchain as a technology has been around in some form since the 1990s, but interest
since then has grown exponentially as more uses are developed. Today, almost everyone
has heard of Bitcoin even if they don’t understand it. It was the first full blockchain
implementation for a cryptoasset and is now one of the largest and most valued
cryptocurrencies out there.
But don’t confuse Bitcoin for blockchain in general. Blockchain is the technology that
cryptocurrency is built on and Bitcoin for which is the original cryptocurrency for which
blockchain technology was invented. Today blockchain technology is used for a variety of
applications but here we will focus on the cryptocurrency use case.
Because blockchain and cryptocurrencies are decentralized systems, there’s less friction
when setting up new products and networks. For example, the creation of news ‘coins’
is limitless and can be legitimized quickly through usage in comparison to physical
currencies (known as “fiat” currencies), such as the American Dollar or Euro, which are
bound by monetary systems and fiscal policy set by centralized governments.
Crypto Transactions:
Process and Compliance Issues
When making a cryptocurrency transaction, a user will have had to create a crypto wallet
first, identification details of which are collected by a miner and stored within a block.
Each block will contain data on these wallets and details of transactions in the form of
numbers, which progressively build on the block each time a transfer is made.
This data is immutable, it can’t be deleted or altered - an inherent safety feature of the
blockchain system. With each transaction, the digital ‘paper trail’ of the cryptocurrency
changing hands will carry with it the history of transactions it has made.
With each transaction, more data is added. With more data comes more security,
as there’s more information that can be analyzed and flagged for illicit activity when
the blockchain data is linked to known entities. Because blocks in a chain are linked
by a common identifier, to delete or edit data would mean having to delete or edit
entire chains.
The history of cryptocurrency and its portrayal by the media and much of the traditional
financial industry is often sensationalized. It’s purported to be a haven for criminals
because of the misconception that cryptocurrency transactions are anonymous and
untraceable. As a result, cryptoassets are seen by many as a risky system to be trading
or transacting in.
However, no financial system is fully secure from unregulated activity or ‘bad actors’.
This has created the need for a new kind of anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions
compliance technology to help crypto businesses and financial institutions analyze
infinite amounts of blockchain data points to detect and prevent their customers and
business from being the target of cryptoasset-linked financial crime.
Why Is Blockchain
Analytics Required?
Blockchain analytics support crypto businesses and financial institutions to manage risk
within cryptocurrencies and between counterparties. It’s a necessary tool to protect
your customers, your business, and your reputation from the ramifications of illicit or
non-compliant activity on the blockchain. Blockchain analytics used to detect and prevent
financial crime is critical to building investor and user confidence, and therefore the
overall success of the cryptocurrency market.
These technology solutions, which in their most effective forms rely on best-in-class data
quality and real-time predictive analytics, provide risk-based monitoring that prevents
transactions from moving through previously flagged crypto wallets.
Another benefit of this is increasing trust within the crypto market. Individuals and
businesses want to know if the party they are doing business with is legitimate.
Blockchain analytics provides this certainty.
Organizations that offer blockchain analytics ‘scrape’ the public records of blockchain
transactions, and through this, create clusters of information regarding these
transactions, building connections between certain crypto wallets. This way, they identify
either anomalies, risk, or definite criminal activity and flag those wallets accordingly.
Businesses operating within the cryptocurrency industry are best poised to benefit from
this adoption - especially when it comes to predictive analytics, where you gain the ability
to go beyond the real-time screening of cryptoasset transactions.
The size of the cryptocurrency market has increased quickly over time. Statista estimates
that in Q3 of 2016, there were around 8.95 million blockchain wallet users worldwide. By
Q2 of 2020, this has increased to 50.71 million.
Luckily, for businesses of all sizes operating within the cryptocurrency markets or
financial systems, blockchain analytics is accessible and scalable. Not only that, it’s a cost-
effective route to safety and compliance.
Here at Elliptic, we automatically trace transactions through the blockchain and identify
illicit activities. This intelligence can then be forwarded to businesses and financial
institutions, helping them to ensure AML compliance.
Elliptic recently responded to the 2020 July Twitter Hack, helping to monitor the flow of
fraudulent funds following the security breach.
When monitoring criminal activity on the blockchain using AML compliance solutions,
false positives can slow down operations and delay the confirmation of transactions for
customers. The data needs to be accurate and complete - the best blockchain analytics
platforms limit the number of false positives by linking crypto addresses to known
entities to unveil patterns in crypto transactions related to illicit actors.
Even though users are anonymous on the blockchain, they are actually pseudonymous,
and can potentially be traced if wallets can be matched with know-your-customer
data. At Elliptic, we have been collecting crypto blockchain data and labeling wallets
since 2013 and so can boast the most complete set of transaction records. Our dataset
includes data from both the dark web and past criminal cases, records for which are no
longer available publicly, increasing the ability to accurately match new transactions
with historical criminal intent.
The best risk-based management not only detects risk efficiently and with accuracy
but actively stops risk in its tracks. By flagging a risky transaction, an analytics tool can
help protect your customers and your businesses from any intended or unintended
financial crime.
Blockchain analytics works by firstly adopting a rigorous set of processes to collect and
analyze publicly available data on the blockchain. This work is typically carried out by
Cryptocurrency Intelligence Analysts (CIAs) who analyze transactions and wallet activity
to look for triggers and behaviors that may lead to an assertion that an illicit activity has
been carried out.
CIAs usually work with a team of data scientists who magnify the findings using
techniques such as pattern recognition and machine learning processes to validate the
assertions. Experienced, enterprise-grade blockchain analytics providers have rigor in
this process before adding this new tagged data into their monitoring tools to ensure
utmost accuracy.
But before we explain how that works, it’s worth exploring the key differences between
fiat currency and cryptocurrency as a baseline.
The trust factor is why the private sector needs to come together with regulators and
government agencies to help them understand the characteristics and dynamics of
crypto. Pragmatic, risk-based policy and regulation are key to the growth of crypto by
supporting the development of a marketplace where it’s safe to transact and invest.
When a transaction is made, that data is forever stored on the blockchain. It can’t
be amended and includes the data of every previous transaction made within that
cryptocurrency’s history. In the crypto world, vast amounts of this data are being
generated every nanosecond.
Now, let’s add blockchain analytics which works by aggregating crypto transaction data
and using data science and machine learning to link suspicious activity to crypto wallets
tagged in the database with links to illicit or high-risk activity. Because the wallet or
transaction has exhibited possible or confirmed links with high risk or criminal activity,
it will be flagged and given a risk score. A wallet owner remains anonymous as their
information is cryptographically represented in the blocks of data that build upon
each other.
It’s worth stressing that the blockchain analytics provider never sees an individual’s
personal or identifiable information, but rather only sees wallets, account numbers, and
transaction history in the form of numbers and letters. Wallet addresses can be tracked
by a transactional hash function.
When a regulated entity or regulator identifies the owner of a wallet linked to illicit
activity the end-to-end trail can be followed as transaction data is carried along with each
“hop” as it changes hands. The wallet in question will be labeled with the type of criminal
or suspicious activity it’s associated with such as ransomware, trafficking, hacking, drug
smuggling, or any other illicit activity in line with financial crime typologies.
Our team at Elliptic creates a ‘heuristic’ that clusters input and transaction data
around wallet data with similar typologies, meaning that wallets or transactions can be
determined to come from the same party - even though multiple wallets can be owned by
one person.
You can explore more about crypto red flags on our blog about the recent FATF report.
For example, supply chain management has been benefiting from the technology,
by improving the traceability of material, decreasing losses from counterfeit trading,
and improving compliance over outsourced contract manufacturing.
• Banking: Like cryptocurrencies, banks can track transactions. The field is developing
to provide for trade finance, securities settlements, commercial real estate, and cross-
border transactions.
However, blockchain analytics is the main remedy for the issues of the world of
cryptocurrency businesses and financial institutions.
With help from a blockchain analytics provider such as Elliptic, financial institutions can
continue their compliance efforts. Blockchain analytics relies on massive databases that
span Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin - and countless other tokens - and wallet addresses,
alongside data gathered from clear and dark web entities.
Blockchain analytics helps these organizations to identify fraudulent client accounts, track the
proceeds of thefts, and even determine links to dark web marketplaces. For cryptocurrency
exchanges, analytics provides the capability to assess the source and destination of any illicit
funds - a crucial advantage when working to stop crypto-funded crime.
As cryptocurrency and transactions on the blockchain are truly global, it’s also sometimes
difficult to determine what jurisdiction’s rules apply to what transaction. While this does
pose some issues, it also represents one of the strongest advantages to cryptocurrency -
its inherent universality. It’s a financial system open to anyone, but this does come with a
wide range of regulations to contend with.
These [regulatory] powers do not cover how cryptoasset businesses conduct their
business with consumers. We are not responsible for ensuring cryptoasset businesses
protect client assets, among other things.
This means that in some cases, cryptoassets do not have the same protections as fiat
currency and related financial systems. Therefore, blockchain analytics are even more
important for remaining safe, preventing risk so that any issues don’t cause more harm
than they potentially could with traditional currency.
What Technology
is Available?
An example of this is Elliptic Navigator, which actively goes beyond real-time screening of
cryptoasset transactions. Risk insights can be obtained before transactional data is added
to the blockchain, granting stakeholders a huge advantage in terms of maintaining safety.
You can find more information on blockchain analytics tools in our blog here.
Business
Outcomes
At Elliptic, analysts and data scientists ensure this by performing work that ranges from
undercover dark web research to machine learning-based transaction clustering.
So with these expected outcomes and benefits of blockchain analytics, what does the
future of the technology look like?
Similarly, new cryptocurrencies are being announced regularly. While Bitcoin has the top
spot, who’s to say what the market may look like in ten or twenty years? Here are some of
our theories about the future of blockchain, crypto, and blockchain analytics.
In most cases, when the US begins to place stricter rules on financial markets, other
markets worldwide follow suit. The potential for stricter rules increases as further
connections between crypto-enabled funding and global terrorist organizations
are revealed.
Because of this, crypto businesses need to make sure they have comprehensive action
plans for complying with increasingly stringent regulations. You can read more on how
US sanctions on terrorist financing affect crypto businesses in our blog here.
For example, in November 2019 the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission
published a direct call for increased blockchain monitoring, writing that businesses need
to “employ technology solutions which enable the tracking of virtual assets through
multiple transactions.” Similar sentiments have also been released by the Financial Action
Task Force (FATF), Abu Dhabi, and the US.
The key thing to remember is that crypto businesses shouldn’t be waiting for this call to
arms’, as waiting to increase compliance can lead to an increase in risk. Crypto businesses
need to implement these blockchain analytic solutions to go beyond checkbox compliance
so that they’re better prepared to meet the requirements of emerging regulations.
You can read more on how to empower the future of finance through cryptocurrency
compliance in our blog here.
While some banks embrace crypto, others have decided to de-risk some parts of
the sector. This has been condemned as not sustainable by the FATF and regulators
worldwide have called on banks to implement risk-based approaches, rather than simple
de-risking.
As more banks are asked to address crypto risk exposure in earnest, more focus on
blockchain analytics and related crypto risk management solutions will be seen. In turn,
this will hopefully result in a closer relationship between banks and crypto markets, as
well as more aligned compliance and increased confidence.
You can read our analysis of the FATF’s 2019 rulings on de-risking and transaction
monitoring solutions here.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain, on the other hand, bypass these issues. Crypto lends itself
to financial inclusion and financial accessibility, which makes it all the more important for
blockchain analytics to continue working to create a safer digital financial environment.
We’re here to promote security within crypto, but also provide the insights and
data needed to further effective crypto innovation within the industry. You can
learn more about us or the cryptoasset market and blockchain analytics, alongside:
• Regulatory consultations.
If any of this intrigues and you’d like to expand your knowledge on any subject
related to what we do, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our experts today.
Contact Us