To remember: The real value of blockchain intelligence is to show investigators where criminals interact with services that collect identity data. It is through these exit routes that investigations progress from pseudonymous addresses to the real suspects.
Blockchain analysis allows cryptocurrencies to be traced through complex transaction networks with remarkable precision. Government investigators can document every jump, every middleman, every attempted mix-up. The resulting transaction charts are complete, the flows are clear, and the technical work is often impressive.
But none of this identifies the suspects. The blockchain shows you where the money has moved. It doesn’t tell you who moved it.
This is the fundamental idea that distinguishes effective crypto investigations from technical documentation exercises: Blockchain intelligence is valuable primarily because it shows you where criminals interact with the services that can identify them.
The transaction chart is not the goal. It’s the card that gets you to exchanges with KYC records, facial recognition ATMs, and services that log IP addresses. It is in these exits that investigations really progress, because these are the points where blockchain addresses potentially connect to real-world identities.
This article examines which exit opportunities provide the most valuable intelligence, how to recognize dead ends that waste investigative resources, and why comprehensive blockchain coverage is essential to identify every point where criminals leave identity data.
The hierarchy of exit opportunities
Not all blockchain transactions lead to information of equal value: some paths are directly tied to identity, while others lead to dead ends where data exists but cannot be obtained. Understand what determines how investigators allocate their time.
Regulated exchanges
Regulated exchanges represent the ideal scenario. When funds are routed to Coinbase, Binance, or other compliant platforms, investigators can obtain full KYC records through established legal processes.
These platforms maintain detailed information about users (names, addresses, government-issued IDs, transaction histories) and typically have dedicated law enforcement response teams. The information is reliable, the legal framework is well established, and the data directly links wallet addresses to verified identities.
Cryptocurrency ATMs
Crypto ATMs offer a different kind of value. Most process transactions without extensive KYC requirements, but they capture something potentially more powerful: images of users at the time of the transaction.
Law enforcement can obtain this facial recognition data and run it in databases. Geolocation is precise. The timing is precise. In cases where traditional identity verification hits a wall, a clear photograph can be a breakthrough.
Coin exchange services
Coin exchange services occupy less predictable territory. Most do not collect KYC information, but many record interaction data such as IP addresses, device identifiers, and session information. What makes these services interesting is their willingness to cooperate.
Some platforms, particularly those located in law enforcement-friendly jurisdictions, will voluntarily provide their data even if they have no legal obligation to respond. Investigators who assume these services will not cooperate often miss opportunities simply because they never asked for them.
Dead ends
Then there are the dead ends. Gambling platforms, privacy-focused services, and entities operating in jurisdictions hostile to law enforcement cooperation. These are places where data exists but cannot be obtained through legal channels.
The key skill is to recognize these impasses as early as possible. Investigators sometimes spend weeks trying to get answers from services that will never cooperate, either because they do not keep the data or because they are inaccessible at the jurisdictional level. The smartest approach is to quickly identify dead ends and look for alternative paths through transaction history.
If funds are transferred via a mixer to a non-cooperative gaming platform, this path is likely closed. But the same wallet that sent the funds this way likely made other transactions. Look for points where the suspect interacted with services that will answer. Blockchain transparency means you can see every transaction. Your job is to identify those that lead to actionable insights.
Criminals still make mistakes
Even the most sophisticated criminals often don’t understand what blockchain behaviors actually protect them. For example, many are still unaware that modern blockchain analytics can track funds through mixing services using pattern analysis. They don’t know it bridges between blockchains are only temporary and often surmountable challenges.
The biggest mistake criminals make is assuming that transaction complexity equals protection. They route funds through multiple services to create what they believe is an untraceable path.
But each service can nevertheless represent a way out towards identity. Mixer outputs that lead to an exchange. Bridged funds go back to an ATM. A complex chain of control that ultimately ends with a service that logs IP addresses.
The transparency of blockchain technology means that even when criminals manage to hide the immediate history of their transactions, the permanent record remains. A transaction that was difficult to track when it occurred may become simple to track as new services emerge, patterns become clearer, or more data accumulates on how criminal operations structure their flows.
Why Comprehensive Blockchain Coverage Matters
Finding productive exits requires visibility across the entire blockchain ecosystem. Criminals are not limited to a single blockchain: analysis for Elliptic State of Cross-Chain Crime Report found that 33% of complex investigations span three or more channels, 27% span five or more channels, and 20% span ten or more channels.
This is why partial coverage creates blind spots that directly compromise the identification of exit routes. A transaction leaves Ethereum, crosses a bridge to a less covered chain, and ends in a trade with full KYC. If your intelligence can’t track funds across that bridge or doesn’t have entity intelligence on the destination chain, you never identify the off-ramp.
Elliptic offers comprehensive coverage on More than 60 blockchains with full network integration, entity intelligence and cross-chain continuity. This ensures that when criminals move funds between chains, investigators can track these flows and identify all potential exits, regardless of which blockchain the funds hit or which bridges they crossed.
Finding exits is the goal
Blockchain intelligence enables cryptographic investigations not because transaction graphs are inherently valuable, but because they reveal where to find identity data. The most effective investigators understand this distinction. They do not trace transactions for the sake of documentation. They trace transactions to find these exit points.
This perspective changes how agencies should assess blockchain’s intelligence capabilities. The question is not “how well can this tool visualize transaction flows?” » The question is: how much can this information help me identify each service where the suspect might have left identity data?
When you find these escape routes, that’s when the investigations accelerate. Blockchain showed you where to look. Off-chain intelligence tells you who to target.
