Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency

by Andy Greenberg

Andy Greenberg's Tracers in the Dark follows the investigators who shattered the myth that cryptocurrency is untraceable. The book chronicles how a small group of researchers and law enforcement agents developed blockchain analysis techniques that led to the takedowns of the world's largest dark web markets, a massive child exploitation ring, and state-sponsored North Korean hackers. Greenberg traces the evolution from academic research into transaction graph analysis to the operational tradecraft used by IRS Criminal Investigation and other agencies to follow money through Bitcoin, Monero, and other cryptocurrencies. The book covers the AlphaBay and Hansa takedowns, the Welcome to Video investigation, the Chainalysis and CipherTrace tools that made tracing possible, and the ongoing arms race between privacy technologies and chain analysis. Essential reading for anyone working in cryptocurrency forensics or blockchain security.