Chainalysis Rolls Out Real-Time Threat Detector for 15 Major Cryptos

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has launched alerts for suspicious transactions across 15 major cryptocurrencies.

In a post published on the firm’s blog on Aug. 22, the company said its Know Your Transaction (KYT) tool works in real time to provide compliance with Anti-Money Laundering measures — and claimed this is the first solution to offer compatibility with such a broad range of crypto assets.

Compliance risk mitigation

The tool is meant to help cryptocurrency exchanges and other financial institutions mitigate their regulatory and reputational risks. Michael Breu, chief compliance officer at major crypto exchange Gemini, said:

“As a New York Trust company we are required to monitor transactions on and off our platform. [...] Tools like KYT alerts, which provide real time and ongoing blockchain analysis, coupled with Gemini’s own compliance policies, help us meet our regulatory obligations.”

According to the article, the company’s KYT service has always included real-time transaction monitoring for large volumes of cryptocurrency activity to identify high-risk behavior. However, now alerts are generated whenever a transfer involves a risky counterparty and crosses a value threshold.

Major assets supported

Alerts are categorized as low, medium, high or severe based on category, service, direct versus indirect exposure, direction of funds, and amount. The supported assets include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), top stablecoins and ERC-20 tokens such as Tether (USDT), Maker (MKR) and DAI. Chainalysis product vice president John Dempsey said:

"As lawmakers and regulators focus their attention on the industry, it is more critical than ever that cryptocurrency businesses demonstrate compliance best practices. [...] Every minute counts when managing exposure to sanctioned entities, hacked funds, darknet markets, and other illicit activities, which is why Chainalysis is investing in fast, actionable alerts to help our customers mitigate risk across cryptocurrencies."

As Cointelegraph reported at the beginning of July, Chainalysis claims that 64% of ransomware attack cash-out strategies involve the laundering of funds via cryptocurrency exchanges.