Analyst firm Crystal Blockchain has unveiled a free version of its transaction chain analysis tool to trace the origins of cryptoassets.
According to a statement on the Crystal Blockchain website, Crystal Block Explorer is the market’s first retail version of the professional blockchain analytics tool. Compared to the flagship paid product Crystal Expert, the retail version of the tool is limited. The free blockchain analytics product can be useful for ordinary cryptocurrency users, researchers and journalists.
Crystal Block Explorer checks if the crypto asset or transaction is associated with any known network participants, for example, with a certain exchange or fraudulent scheme operators. The tool also provides a risk assessment for a cryptoasset and analyzes the possibility of freezing money on the exchange due to the asset’s transaction history.
“Not only financial institutions want to better understand activities related to digital assets – every cryptocurrency user wants to be able to learn more about their coins,” said Marina Khaustova, CEO of Crystal Blockchain.
In addition to Crystal Blockchain, blockchain analytics tools are also being developed by other companies, such as Chainalysis, CipherTrace and Elliptic. There are also free tools, such as Walletexplorer and OXT, that help establish a connection between BTC addresses.
With the new Crystal tool, users will have limited access to company data about who owns certain addresses, and will also be able to create diagrams that display chains of related transactions. According to Haustova, the ability to verify the legitimacy of counterparties is “critical to the day-to-day use and implementation of digital assets in general.”
According to one of the latest reports from Crystal Blockchain, hackers have learned to withdraw stolen cryptoassets faster and are less likely to use centralized exchanges with KYC to launder money.
