- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are utilizing Chainalysis’ Reactor software to trace blockchain transactions
- The software assists law enforcement in following the path of funds from origin to exchange, identifying entities involved in malicious activities and potentially recovering stolen funds.
- This trend aligns with a growing interest from law enforcement agencies globally, including in China, Britain, and Europe
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force has revealed that it is using Chainalysis’ Reactor software to trace blockchain transactions. They praised the service for helping them overcome barriers previously experienced when handling crypto-based crimes. The news comes a few months after the blockchain intelligence firm launched a crypto investigation center in the country.
Key Aim is to Recover and Return Funds
According to the law enforcers, the service enables them to follow the trail of funds from their origin to when it arrives at an exchange, enabling them to identify entities involved in malicious activities.
Once they trace suspected illicit funds to an exchange, the police can ask the exchange to reveal the account holder’s transaction data and personal information to continue tracking the fund’s trail.
In a report published in the Lethbridge Herald newspaper, the Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) disclosed that while Chainalysis helps them to catch malicious actors using cryptocurrency, their main aim is to recover stolen funds and return them to affected entities.
Chinese, British and European Police also Investigating Blockchain-based Crimes
The disclosure by the Canadian police comes at a time when law enforcement agencies are increasingly expressing interest in handling crimes involving blockchain-based assets. In China, for example, authorities in Hainan province have revealed that they’ll heavily police the province’s NFT market to prevent money laundering and copyright infringement among other malpractices.
The British police have also seized a crypto stash worth over $22 million stolen by scammers. Law enforcement agencies in the United States and Europe have in the past disrupted the operations of a crypto-centric ransomware group.
With Canadian police revealing it’s using blockchain intelligence services to nab crypto scammers and hackers, it’s likely that other security agencies are employing, or will employ similar services to stop scammers on their tracks.
