Blockchain Analysis Tools | Top 20

Blockchain and crypto analytics tools are what you need when you want to conduct crypto investigations or monitor and track blockchain transactions.

In this post, I will be sharing with you the most popular of these blockchain monitoring and crypto investigation tools that you can trust.

But first…

What are crypto investigations tools and why do we need them?

Blockchain analysis and crypto investigation tools are sophisticated services or software platforms that help you monitor and track on-chain cryptocurrency transactions.

Due to their anonymity, cryptocurrencies are prone to be used by criminals for money laundering, terrorist financing, ransomware monetization, illicit trades, etc.

Though bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were developed to be anonymous and private, they were never intended to be used for illegal activities.

As such, these blockchain analysis and crypto investigation tools were developed mostly to aid law enforcement agents to track down criminals who’re using crypto.

They help law enforcement agencies monitor, track, and connect illicit on-chain cryptocurrency transactions to the real-life identities of the users behind them for possible arrests.

However, private and institutional crypto investors also use them to monitor and analyse on-chain data to help them gain deeper insights into the market.

Top 20 blockchain analysis and crypto investigation tools

This list of the top crypto investigation tools is not exhaustive and they’re presented in no particular order.

1. Chainalysis
2. Coinfirm
3. Elliptic
4. CipherTrace
5. Glasschain
6. Breadcrumbs
7. QLUE
8. Chainbeat
9. Nansen
10. Solidus Labs
11. Uppsala Security
12. TRM Labs
13. Coinpath
14. AnChain
15. WhiteStream
16. Santiment
17. CoreChain
18. LookIntoBitcoin
19. BittsAnalytics
20. CrystalBlockchain

Let’s discuss each of them in detail below, highlighting their unique features and use cases.

1. Chainalysis

Chainalysis is a blockchain data platform that provides data, software, services, and research for crypto investigation, compliance, and market intelligence to clients in over 70 countries.

The platform enables banks, businesses, and governments to have a common understanding of how people use cryptocurrency.

Chainalysis core products and features

• Reactor: An investigation software that helps you connect cryptocurrency transactions to real-world entities, and examine criminal or legitimate on-chain activities and transfers.
• Know your transaction (KYT): A transaction monitoring tool that helps organizations reduce manual workflows, stay compliant with local and global regulations, and safely interact with emerging technologies such as DeFi.
• Kryptos: Helps you monitor the on-chain activities of over 6,500 cryptocurrency services or organisations.
• Market Intel: This provides you with a holistic view of the entire crypto landscape and helps you track the direction of the market. Thus, empowering you to make better-informed investment decisions.
• Business Data: Provides an additional layer of customer intelligence to cryptocurrency businesses, helping them to better understand customers, tailor product offerings, and identify new revenue streams.

2. Confirm

Coinfirm is a leading RegTech company specialising in crypto AML compliance, analytics, and illicit asset tracing.

The company was founded in 2016 by former Royal Bank of Scotland AML executives and currently serves some of the biggest brands in the world, including Binance.

Coinfirm key products and features

• AML platform. Provides transaction, wallet and cluster risk monitoring for crypto-assets. And help you manage counterparty risk, review or escalate cases, and create the perfect audit trail.
• Asset tracking. Uses forensic accounting methods to identify and evidence the source and destination of crypto assets. Thus, enabling successful cryptocurrency investigations with real-time blockchain analytics and asset tracking.
• AML oracle. A smart contract-based solution that facilitates risk evaluation of wallet addresses and transactions with on-chain data to help dApps to be compliant with FATF regulations.
• Crypto Sanctions Screening. Enables the whole blockchain ecosystem to comply with crypto sanctions by screening out and blacklisting wallet addresses that are on the international sanctions or OFAC’S lists.
• Entity due diligence. Helps you identify and visualise an entity’s risk exposure by evaluating known risk indicators and a number of useful and unique data.

3. Elliptic

Elliptic is a crypto compliance solution and service provider that helps crypto businesses, financial institutions, and regulators to detect and prevent financial crime in crypto assets.

Financial institutions and cryptocurrency companies rely on Elliptic to manage financial crime risk and achieve regulatory compliance.

Elliptic core products and features:

• Lens (Crypto wallet screening): This allows you to identify the owner of a wallet, and its source or destination of funds for AML/CFT and sanctions risk mitigation.
• Investigator: This tool helps you gain deep insights into crypto transactions, and wallet addresses, as well as visualise the relationships between them.
• Market Intelligence: provides the unique crypto-asset data to make informed trading decisions
• Navigator: This is a transaction monitoring solution for crypto businesses and financial institutions that helps them scale their AML and sanctions compliance.
• Discovery: Helps you assess financial crime risk when engaging with crypto exchanges, custodians, and other crypto or virtual asset service providers (VASPs).
• Asset Coverage: With over 100 billion data points covering 98% of the crypto market and growing, Elliptic helps you to proactively monitor and mitigate risk no matter how fast criminal organizations adapt.

4. CipherTrace

CipherTrace is a cryptocurrency intelligence and blockchain analytics platform that helps mitigate virtual currency risks, promote AML compliance and support crypto investigations.

CipherTrace core products and features

• AML compliance: CipherTrace helps clients comply with AMLD5, FATF, and jurisdictional regulations.
• Financial investigations: Supports financial investigations and forensics for more than 800 Coins.
• Compliance monitoring: Continuously gauges the risk profile of crypto entities to rate risks, protect counterparties, and ensure compliance.
• DeFi sanctions compliance: A compliance oracle on Chainlink that enables DeFi developers to integrate necessary sanctions compliance data and services into their smart contracts to meet regulatory obligations and protect their dApps from transacting with sanctioned addresses.
• Bitcoin ATM (BATM) compliance: CipherTrace allow BATM operators to easily and economically comply with AML regulations around the globe. 
• Travel rule compliance (Traveler): Helps VASPs comply with global “Travel Rule” regulations by securely sharing cryptocurrency transaction information with other vetted VASPs.
• Bank risk mitigation: This is a virtual asset risk mitigation tool for financial institutions (FIs) to help protect banks and FIs from virtual asset laundering risks, illicit money service businesses, and crypto-related threats.

5. Glasschain

Glasschain is a Switzerland-based non-profit organisation that aims to help reduce crypto fraud and facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange.

The platform can be used by anyone, for free, to:

• find detailed information about specific Bitcoin wallet addresses, including whether an address has been reported already, etc.
• prevent criminals from cashing out by alerting exchanges to blacklist and block such wallets.
• track fund movement by monitoring a bitcoin address and notifying you of any further reports or if the funds are moved to a known platform, etc.

6. Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs is an open blockchain analytics platform that provides you with a suite of tools for monitoring and tracing cryptocurrency transactions.

The platform has two tools:

1. Investigation tool. This allows you to search visualise and explore crypto addresses.
2. Monitoring tool. A plug-and-play platform that helps you track crypto transactions in real time, trace the flow of funds, etc.

7. QLUE

QLUE (Quantitative Law Enforcement Unified Edge) is a blockchain analysis and crypto investigation tool that’s built by the Blockchain Intelligence Group for law enforcers, the financial sector, and regulators.

The platform prides itself as an investigative solution, developed in partnership with senior law enforcement investigators and anti-money laundering specialists, that:

• Enables law enforcement agencies to trace, track, and monitor bad actors that exploit cryptocurrencies and helps them reduce the time it takes to perform a crypto investigation.
• Incorporates advanced proprietary search algorithms to detect suspicious activity that criminals attempt to conceal using cryptocurrencies.

8. Chainbeat

Chainbeat is a blockchain analysis tool that helps you identify key trends with real-time human-readable smart contract insights.

key features and functionalities

The platform allows you to

• See what’s happening with your smart contracts and account wallets.
• Create custom reports, track metrics in real time, and extract and visualize data from the blockchain.
• Set up alerts to be in the loop when something crucial happens to your contracts or wallet.
• Download on-chain data and take it off-chain for further analysis.
• Create comprehensive and in-depth custom reports that showcase the usage and activities of smart contracts across blockchain ecosystems.
• Get key insights into how system and user activity impact market pricing with our custom pricing data integration.

9. Nansen

Nansen is a blockchain analytics platform, which combines on-chain data with a massive and constantly growing database of millions of wallet addresses.

The platform helps you to track the behaviour and on-chain activity of prominent wallet addresses, discover new investment opportunities, do your own research, and protect your position.

10. Solidus Labs

Solidus Labs, is crypto-native trade surveillance, transaction monitoring, and threat intelligence platform.

Solidus Labs’ key products and features

• Trade surveillance. Help ensure market integrity by benchmarking abnormal crypto orders and execution patterns against the market norm.
• Transaction monitoring. Helps you detect, investigate, and report suspicious crypto deposits and withdrawals for AML, sanctions and financial risk compliance.
• Onboarding verification. Helps you streamline retail and institutional clients’ onboarding processes.

11. Uppsala Security

Uppsala Security is a blockchain analytics company that provides you with advanced risk management tools for cryptocurrency AML, regulation compliance, and cybersecurity.

The company built the first crowdsourced threat intelligence platform known as the Sentinel Protocol, powered by blockchain technology.

Uppsala key products and features

• Digital Asset Tracking Services. Uppsala helps victims of crypto scams and exchange hacks to track their assets and institute legal proceedings for redemption.
• Digital Asset AML Protection Solutions. Uppsala AML solution provides businesses with what they need to comply with AML regulations.
• Samsung Blockchain Wallet AML. Uppsala Security is integrated into the Samsung blockchain wallet to provide users with real-time threat detection, push notifications signalling suspicious transactions, etc.

12. TRM Labs

TRM Labs is a blockchain analytics tool that helps you monitor and investigate cryptocurrency wallets, transactions and entities.

The platform blends blockchain data with advanced analytics to help financial institutions and governments fight fraud, money laundering, and financial crime.

TRM Labs’ key features

• Assess the risk profile of Virtual Asset Service Providers and other crypto businesses.
• Investigate the source and destination of crypto funds to accelerate cases.
• Screen crypto wallets and transactions for AML and sanctions compliance
• Supports over 1 million digital assets across 25 blockchains.
• Provides a cohesive visualisation of the flow of funds as you trace the flow of funds across different chains.
• Allows you to set custom risk scoring criteria from over 80 risk categories including FATF’s money laundering predicate offences.

13. Coinpath

Coinpath claims to be a set of blockchain money tracing APIs that uses heuristics and machine learning to determine clusters, transaction flow, account balances, etc.

Their APIs are the backbone of multiple blockchain analysis, crypto investigation and compliance solutions currently in the market.

Coinpath is owned and operated by Bitquery, a New York-based blockchain data company.

14. AnChain

AnChain proclaims itself as “The Guardian of Web3 Digital Assets” and the best AI-powered blockchain intelligence platform for security, risk, and compliance.

AnChain key products and features

• Blockchain Ecosystem Intelligence (BEI) API. An AML compliance and anti-money laundering system that enables your business to secure crypto assets, quantify risk and remain KYC/AML compliant.
• SCREEN. A smart contract risk evaluation engine that helps you manage your risk exposure to high-risk crypto wallets, identify vulnerable code and monitor client activity, all in one place.
• CISO (Compliance, Investigation, Security, Operations). Connects wallet addresses to real-world entities and allows you to intuitively graph and investigate cryptocurrency transactions in minutes.
• Monitors 99.5% of the cryptocurrency market.
• Processes over $100 billion in trading volume.

15. WhiteStream

WhiteStream is a blockchain analysis tool analytics tool that helps provide deep insight into on-chain transactions.

It does this by turning blockchain raw data into searchable and executable data that individuals and businesses can easily search for and build services on top.

These data are then served to the clients (users) via API for various purposes such as AML, Counter-terrorism financing, fraud detection and prevention, KYC, compliance, and much more.

Whitestream data are served to clients via API to be used for various purposes such as AML, counter-terror financing, fraud detection and prevention, KYC, compliance, etc.

16. Santiment

Santiment is a crypto and NFT virtual explorer that makes powerful on-chain, social, and financial analysis accessible to anyone.

The platform generates interactive reports that let you query and visualise crypto market data with a few clicks. You get literally all the tools and services you need to make better investment decisions.

Santiment core products and features

• SanX: actively traded index based on crypto-native metrics
• SanR: a decentralised marketplace for crypto price signals where you can share crypto trading signals, watch others’ signals, practice your trading skills, and earn SAN token rewards.
• Insights: crypto market analysis from the Santiment team and other community members.
• Sanbase: Behaviour analysis and monitoring platform for over 1000 crypto assets.
• Sansheets: a Google spreadsheets plugin for importing Santiment data such as on-chain, social development activity, prices, and volume data.
• SanAPI: claims to be the most comprehensive crypto API on the market, providing current and historical data about the crypto market.

17. ScoreChain

ScoreChain is an easy-to-use and customisable AML and compliance software for crypto businesses and financial institutions.

ScoreChain core products and features

• Scorechain analytics: tracks crypto assets and helps you create a structured and coherent AML strategy for identifying, assessing, and managing risk.
• Exploration tool: helps you investigate to what extent a wallet is linked to any illicit activities and mitigate AML/CTF risks. The Santinment team can also help you perform forensic crypto investigations to uncover stolen or hidden assets.
• Entity directory: allows you to assess the level of risk from VASPs with detailed due diligence information and risk scoring.
• Reports and alerts: this allows you to easily create KYT & KYA reports in one click and track transactions 24/7.

18.  LookIntoBitcoin

LookIntoBitcoin is a crypto website that provides Bitcoin charts and alerts with detailed supporting information to its users.

They claim to be the best resource for free Bitcoin charts, alerts, and information. The charts are free but the indicator alerts are paid and come with other perks.

19. BittsAnalytics

BittsAnalytics is a leading analytics platform for cryptocurrencies, delivering social sentiment and other cryptocurrency data since 2017.

BittsAnalytics core products and features

• Social media sentiment: BittsAnalytics uses machine learning to determine social media sentiment for each cryptocurrency so you can see when the investors are euphoric or gloomy.
• Crypto fear greed index: The crypto fear & greed index captures overall positive and negative emotions as expressed by users on social media and provides useful insight into the current mind frame of the crypto market.
• Investor indices: based on social media opinions of traders, hedge funds and other professional investors.
• Most shared news for each cryptocurrency: BittsAnalytics determine the most shared news on social media for each cryptocurrency, and plot this news on price charts so that you can see which news is impacting the price of a cryptocurrency.
• Historical simulation: This lets you see how much your current portfolio has gained or lost in the recent period. You can also enter your portfolio on their platform and obtain a historical simulation of your current portfolio performance in the past.
• Social media mentions: BittsAnalytics calculates the number of mentions of each cryptocurrency on social media so that you can see which coins are most talked about at the moment and even in the past.
• Support and resistance levels: BittsAnalytics use complex algorithms based on trading data to compute support and resistance levels for prices.
• Search trends: provides you with historical charts of search trends for each coin.
• Crypto talk: Identifies the most used words in positive or negative posts about a given cryptocurrency in the last 24 hours. This lets you see which recent developments or topics are viewed as positive or negative for each cryptocurrency.

20. CrystalBlockchain

CrystalBlockchain is a blockchain analytics tool that powers on-chain cryptocurrency transaction monitoring and analysis. It also claims to bring the best-in-class AML compliance and risk management solutions to exchanges, banks, and financial institutions.

The company designs state-of-the-art analytics and investigation solutions to make the blockchain transparent for crypto businesses, banks, financial institutions, and government or law agencies.

CrystalBlockchain core products and features

• Crystal Expert: a cloud-based cryptocurrency investigation, anti-money laundering, and compliance solution designed to bring trust and transparency across blockchain ecosystems.
• Crystal PRO: a comprehensive all-in-one solution designed for financial institutions and businesses looking to securely host Crystal on their on-premise infrastructure
• Travel Rule: helps VASPs comply with the FATF’s international Travel Rule guidelines by providing access to important blockchain transaction information.
• Crystal for DeFi: Crystal’s compliance oracle provides DeFi service providers with a monitoring solution to ensure participant safety and regulatory compliance.
• Investigations Services: Crystal’s investigation team provides comprehensive cryptocurrency analysis and investigations to identify and track illicit activities, link transactions to real-world organisations, and provide evidence for legal pursuance of charges.

Conclusion

The above are the most popular blockchain analytics and crypto investigation tools out there that help you can use to stay ahead of the market, comply with regulations and hunt down crypto criminals.

This list is by no means exhaustive. So if your favourite platform is not included, mention it in the comments section and I’ll research and try to include them.