The chain-analysis industry: who watches the chain
A handful of firms build the attribution datasets that the entire regulated ecosystem relies on. They cluster addresses into entities (exchanges, services, illicit actors), score risk, and expose APIs for screening. Knowing who they are matters because their labels shape whether your transaction gets accepted by a bank or exchange.
- Chainalysis — the largest; used by exchanges, banks, and US government agencies for tracing, risk scoring, and compliance.
- TRM Labs — focused on fraud and sanctions risk; widely used by exchanges and law enforcement.
- Elliptic — blockchain-analytics pioneer; AML and risk-screening for financial institutions.
- Ciphertrace (now part of Mastercard) — wallet attribution and AML across many chains.
- Nansen — on-chain analytics and wallet labeling, more investor- and research-oriented.
- Arkham Intelligence — an intel platform (with a token, ) for attributing wallets and crowdsourcing intel.
Mentioning these firms is descriptive, not an endorsement.
Sanctions and "exposure"
Exposure is the concept that touching a tainted address can taint your funds. If you receive coins that previously passed through a sanctioned entity, an exchange screening with a chain-analysis provider may flag, freeze, or refuse your deposit — even if you had no knowledge of the prior history. OFAC sanctioned addresses are published lists; interacting with them can be a federal crime for US persons.
How exposure reaches your deposit
For a treasury or compliance function, address screening before any outbound or inbound payment is now table stakes. Tools exist to do this at the API level; many custodians do it automatically. Document the screening so you can show you did it.