Who Chainalysis is
Chainalysis is a blockchain data platform, co-founded in 2014. Its tools trace funds across blockchains, assess the risk of wallets and transfers, and support investigations, for crypto businesses, financial institutions and government agencies.
Its compliance products include KYT, which assesses the risk of incoming and outgoing transfers in real time, and Address Screening, which assesses a wallet's risk exposure. Together they are why Chainalysis is a connector in our KYC / AML and compliance reporting modules.
What it does in your platform
KYC / AML
Screens the crypto wallets your customers use, such as the addresses they withdraw to, for exposure to sanctioned entities, scams, darknet markets and other illicit activity. A risky wallet stops the transfer and goes to the review queue.
Compliance reporting
Monitors every incoming and outgoing transfer with KYT against your risk settings. Exposure and behavioural alerts become cases with the evidence attached, ready for a suspicious activity report if one is needed.
How the connection works
Both modules call Chainalysis's APIs from your platform: Address Screening for wallets, KYT for transfers. The API key stays in your platform's secrets, and no app ever calls Chainalysis directly.
A withdrawal is requested
A customer asks to send crypto to an external address. Before anything is signed, the module screens that address with Chainalysis.
The wallet is assessed
Address Screening returns the wallet's direct and indirect exposure by category, such as sanctions or scams, and the module applies your risk settings.
The transfer is monitored
Once the withdrawal goes out, the compliance reporting module sends it to KYT, as it does with every incoming deposit.
KYT raises alerts
If a transfer breaks a rule, such as exposure to a high-risk category above your threshold, KYT raises an alert, and the module opens a case in the backoffice.
Your team investigates
Your analyst works the case with the transfer and its exposure attached, and the outcome is logged, ready for a suspicious activity report if one is needed.
Sanctions are watched
KYT monitors exposure to sanctioned entities before and after sanctions are imposed, and new alerts reach the same case queue.
Next to other providers
For wallet screening, Chainalysis sits next to Elliptic and TRM Labs; for transaction monitoring, next to Elliptic, ComplyAdvantage and Hawk AI. Its alerts add to your own monitoring rules rather than replacing them.
Cases and reports belong to the compliance reporting module, so moving to another analytics provider later does not change your apps or your team's queue, and past alerts stay in your records.
When Chainalysis fits best
A strong fit when
- You run a crypto exchange, wallet or card, and need every transfer monitored.
- You want behavioural alerts on transfers, not only exposure alerts.
- Your investigators already use Chainalysis Reactor and want alerts they can open there.
Also worth a look
- Another blockchain analytics provider, such as Elliptic or TRM Labs, if its coverage fits your assets better.
- A Travel Rule provider such as Notabene, which works alongside wallet screening rather than instead of it.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your Chainalysis account and contract in place, for Address Screening, KYT or both.
The risk settings
We set the risk settings with your compliance team: which categories matter, the exposure thresholds and the behavioural alerts to turn on.
The keys
The API key goes into your platform's secrets and nowhere else, and every call to Chainalysis is made from the platform.
A full test run
Before go-live we run test deposits and withdrawals through both modules and check that alerts reach the case queue.
