Investigations

Investigations | September 18, 2026

Inside the $61.2M USDT forfeiture tied to Iranian oil sales

A $61.2M forfeiture claims addresses that moved $2.72B. Here's what the on-chain data shows, and why the private keys are still live..

Investigations | September 7, 2026

Crypto card services double in five months

Crystal's follow-up finds 150 new crypto card services in five months, with non-custodial wallets driving much of the growth

Investigations | August 12, 2026

Tracing the Coldcard hack: where the stolen Bitcoin went

The Coldcard RNG flaw let attackers crack seed phrases and drain over 2,000 BTC. We trace where the stolen bitcoin went — and who is still exposed.

Investigations | July 8, 2026

The Patriotic Bull and the wallets that cashed out

How Crystal traced Tommy Robinson's Patriotic Bull memecoin: ten wallets, one operator, and a near-total collapse.

Investigations | May 18, 2026

Inside South Korea’s $7.1B crypto crime problem

Crystal Intelligence maps the Hwanchigi method and what it means for compliance teams.

Investigations | April 23, 2026

Stolen crypto withdrawal and transfer patterns

A look from 2015 to 2025 at how fund flow patterns have evolved from single-chain obfuscation to cross-chain bridge-based withdrawal strategies.

Investigations | April 8, 2026

France’s crypto crime: compliance as criminal data

France leads global crypto kidnapping wave: 16 in Q1 2026 as DAC8 and MiCA compliance data endanger investors.

Investigations | April 3, 2026

Crypto payment cards and financial crime risks

Crypto payment cards obscure crypto funding origins, creating compliance blind spots. Crystal traces the risk.

Investigations | February 26, 2026

Mobile wallets & hidden crypto settlement layers

Mobile wallets account for 45-85% of crypto settlement in emerging markets. Our research traces the flows and documents the compliance gap regulators

Investigations | February 5, 2026

Venezuela crisis exposes $20.8M in unmonitored P2P crypto

Crystal analyzed $20.8M in peer-to-peer liquidity during Venezuela's crisis. Found institutional-scale operators and concentration risks most exchange

Investigations | January 19, 2026

Iran case shows why list-based sanctions screening fails

Crystal analyzed wallets from Zanjani's Central Bank claims. We found $48.9M moving through sanctions evasion infrastructure

Investigations | December 17, 2025

How we proved North Korea’s blockchain malware campaign

Crystal Intelligence proved North Korean attribution for blockchain-based malware by tracing infrastructure funding backward, revealing multi-year ope

Investigations | April 2, 2025

The 10 Biggest Crypto Hacks in History

Crystal updates the 10 biggest CEX crypto hacks, from the $105M CoinBene theft in 2019 to the $1.4B Bybit hack in 2025. See the full list below.

Investigations | March 26, 2025

Garantex re-emerges as Grinex

Garantex sanctions trigger swift rebrand as Grinex. Crystal investigates how the exchange resurfaced to evade regulatory scrutiny.

Investigations | March 18, 2025

Garantex & the $28M freeze: what’s next for crypto?

Learn why Tether froze $28M on Garantex, why the US authorities seized the Garantex domain and how these actions impact the crypto industry.