chainalysis

Chainalysis

2026-10-03 17:01:03

Chainalysis links $387 million Bitget hack to North Korea, says AI sped up tracing

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said it has traced last month’s $387 million Bitget hack to actors tied to North Korea, adding to a broader view that Pyongyang-linked hackers were behind one of the biggest crypto thefts of the year. In a report released Wednesday, the firm said the Sept. 24 breach pushed the total value of cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea-linked groups in 2026 past $1 billion. Chainalysis said it has been working with Bitget and law enforcement since the attack to follow the stolen funds across multiple blockchains. According to the report, the money left the exchange in 23 transfers within the first three hours and spread across Ethereum, XRP, Zcash, and Tron. The firm also described how the attackers used cross-chain liquidity and messaging protocols, instant swaps, and laundering services to blur the trail. Chainalysis said one of its in-house AI systems reduced a bridge reconciliation task it estimated would take more than 20 hours manually to less than 10 minutes, while stressing that investigators still directed the work.

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China Ministr

2026-10-01 23:17:47

China tightens crypto rhetoric as Singapore regains regional lead in Asia

China’s Ministry of State Security has escalated its public warnings on cryptocurrencies, saying they can be used for money laundering, cyberattacks and espionage, while stressing that blockchain transactions are not as anonymous as many assume. At the same time, Chainalysis data shows Singapore’s crypto economy expanded 55.4% to $284 billion in the year ended June 2026, even as the broader Central and Southern Asia and Oceania region contracted 6.8%, allowing the city-state to reclaim the top spot in the region. In South Korea, regulators said they are reviewing whether to allow market-making in digital assets after a yen-linked stablecoin briefly traded at more than four times its market value on Upbit due to thin liquidity. Elsewhere, MoonPay has launched a South Korean subsidiary pending approvals, Binance Pay is preparing to let eligible overseas visitors spend more than 100 cryptocurrencies at most PayPay merchants in Japan, Hong Kong regulators have expanded cooperation on financial reporting oversight for licensed crypto firms, and HSBC is preparing a phased rollout of its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, RedCoin.

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Latin America

2026-10-01 13:30:00

LATAM stablecoin cash-out channels may hinge on a small set of liquidity providers, report says

A new report from Varys Capital and Verda Ventures says Latin America’s stablecoin ecosystem may rely on a narrow base of wholesale liquidity providers, treasury operators and credit specialists. Using Verda’s Stablescape database, the researchers reviewed 494 companies in the region and found only 16 whose primary business is wholesale stablecoin-to-fiat liquidity, corporate treasury and credit. Verda Ventures partner Amit Chu said the risk is most visible at the cash-out stage: if a key provider loses access to banking rails, users could still hold stablecoins but face wider spreads, slower withdrawals to local bank accounts, or funds stuck in transit. At the same time, the report does not measure market share or transaction volumes, so it stops short of quantifying how concentrated liquidity really is. Chu also said a small number of specialists does not automatically signal a broken market, pointing to mature foreign-exchange markets where dealer counts are also limited. He argued that what matters is redundancy, capitalization and separate banking relationships, while clearer licensing rules, local-currency stablecoins and more market makers quoting Latin American currency pairs could reduce single-point dependency over time.

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Chainalysis

2026-10-01 09:09:46

Judge dismisses most Celsius claims against Chainalysis, keeps one over disputed $3.3 billion audit

A US federal judge has thrown out most of the claims brought against blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis by the Celsius Network estate, while allowing one aiding-and-abetting claim to move forward. The surviving allegation says Chainalysis helped Celsius insiders breach their fiduciary duties in connection with a disputed 2020 press release tied to a purported audit of roughly $3.3 billion in assets. Judge Margaret Garnett said the complaint plausibly alleged that Chainalysis knew the release contained false statements and assisted in spreading them. The ruling dismissed 12 claims with prejudice, which bars the plaintiffs from repleading those theories in this case. Three consumer-protection claims were dismissed without prejudice, and the plaintiffs have until Oct. 20 to amend them or notify the court that they will not do so. The lawsuit is part of the Celsius estate’s broader effort to recover funds for creditors after the crypto lender froze withdrawals in 2022 and later filed for bankruptcy, leaving customers unable to access about $4.7 billion in assets. At the center of the case is Celsius’ use of Chainalysis Reactor in 2020 to calculate assets under management, which Celsius later described publicly as an audit. According to the complaint as summarized by the court, an initial figure of about $1.18 billion later rose to around $3.3 billion after the methodology changed.

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Policy Regula

2026-10-01 09:20:47

U.S. judge dismisses most Celsius claims against Chainalysis, lets one count proceed

A federal judge in the Southern District of New York has thrown out most of the claims brought against blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis by the litigation administrator for Celsius, while allowing one aiding-and-abetting claim to move forward. Judge Margaret Garnett ruled on Tuesday that the complaint sufficiently alleged Chainalysis knew a 2020 Celsius press release contained false statements and helped distribute that information, rejecting Chainalysis’ bid to dismiss that count. At the same time, the court dismissed 12 other claims with prejudice, which bars the plaintiff from repleading them in this case. Three consumer-protection claims were dismissed without prejudice, giving the plaintiff until Oct. 20 to amend or tell the court it will not do so. The suit was filed by Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium, or BRIC, acting as litigation administrator and recovery administrator for the Celsius bankruptcy estate on behalf of Celsius and certain former customers. Chainalysis declined to comment to Cointelegraph. The dispute centers on a purported $3.3 billion “audit” tied to Celsius’ 2020 use of Chainalysis’ Reactor software to calculate assets under management.

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OFAC

2026-09-30 21:30:57

OFAC sanctions Tren de Aragua-linked ATM network and lists seven Tron addresses

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, has sanctioned an ATM network tied to Tren de Aragua and identified seven Tron addresses as part of the action. According to the information cited by TheDefiant, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said the wallets’ counterparties had exposure to laundering networks used by Mexican and Colombian cartels as well as Venezuelan launderers. The available source material does not provide transaction volumes, wallet balances, or additional operational details about the addresses. The action places a crypto element inside a broader sanctions move, with Tron addresses specifically named in the listing. Based on the source text provided, the report is limited to the sanctions designation, the number of addresses listed, and Chainalysis’ description of the wallets’ counterparty exposure.

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OFAC

2026-09-30 21:35:41

OFAC sanctions ATM network tied to Tren de Aragua and blacklists seven Tron addresses

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, has imposed sanctions on an ATM network linked to Tren de Aragua and added seven Tron addresses to its sanctions list, according to ChainCatcher. Chainalysis said counterparties linked to those wallets had interacted with laundering networks used by drug trafficking groups in Mexico and Colombia, as well as money launderers in Venezuela. The update connects the sanctioned wallets to a wider network that blockchain investigators say has touched multiple illicit actors across the region. No additional transaction figures or wallet details were disclosed in the source provided.

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UK

2026-09-30 15:20:40

UK prosecutors win confiscation order against former NCA officer over stolen Bitcoin

UK prosecutors have obtained a confiscation order against former National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles, according to Decrypt. The Crown Prosecution Service said the order was granted under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and requires Chowles, a 44-year-old from Bristol, to repay £1,810,678.93, or about $2.4 million. The case centers on 50 BTC that Chowles took in 2017, when the holdings were worth about £60,000, roughly $77,000. Authorities said 30 of those coins have since been recovered, and attributed the gap between the original value and the repayment figure to Bitcoin’s appreciation since 2017. Chowles had worked on the NCA investigation into dark web marketplace Silk Road 2, where he analyzed devices and extracted cryptocurrency linked to the case. Prosecutors said he moved the 50 BTC from a reserve wallet belonging to Thomas White over two days in May 2017, broke the funds into smaller amounts, routed them through Bitcoin mixer Bitcoin Fog, and cashed out £144,580 across 279 transactions using Cryptopay and Wirex debit cards. The theft had long been blamed on White, who denied responsibility. By late 2021, the missing Bitcoin was classified as untraceable. A 2022 search of Chowles’ home uncovered a device containing private keys, and Merseyside Police traced the funds with help from Chainalysis.

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