Key facts
- Chainalysis has released a proposed ontology for blockchain analytics.
- The ontology aims to standardize how investigators trace transactions and identify wallet clusters.
- Chief scientist Jacob Illum stated the goal is to build confidence in blockchain data for investigations.
- The proposal was shaped by Chainalysis' involvement in the Bitcoin Fog money laundering case.
- Chainalysis acknowledges its tools can track funds to exchanges but cannot identify end-users without further information.
Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis has published a proposed ontology for blockchain analytics, aiming to establish standards that investigators can use to trace transactions and understand wallet clusters. The company's chief scientist, Jacob Illum, stated that the proposal is intended to initiate a conversation within the crypto industry about what these standards could look like.
The ontology breaks down the concept of a "cluster" of addresses, which currently lacks a universal meaning across the industry. Chainalysis proposes a two-tier structure that defines the structural graph of wallet relationships and assesses the confidence in that analysis. This approach aims to help investigators understand the data they have and its reliability, particularly when private keys are unavailable.
Illum emphasized that while Chainalysis' tools can track funds to entities like crypto exchanges, they cannot, on their own, identify the ultimate end-user without additional information, such as subpoenas. He also highlighted the importance of independent scrutiny and testing of methodologies to validate their reliability, drawing on the company's experience in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Roman Sterlingov, co-founder of Bitcoin Fog. The judge in that case, Randolph Moss, ruled that Chainalysis' Reactor tool was highly reliable for prosecutorial use.