How to Trace Stolen Crypto: Expert Tracing & Court-Admissible Reports

Lost cryptocurrency to a scam? Contrary to what many victims are told, crypto transactions are not anonymous: every transfer is recorded permanently and publicly on the blockchain. With the right methodology and professional tools, stolen crypto can be traced, its destination identified, and the evidence turned into a court-admissible report. Broker Defense has been defending victims of financial fraud since 2014, we produce evidence and a legal target, never false promises.

Can stolen crypto actually be traced?

Yes, in the vast majority of cases. Bitcoin, Ethereum and the main cryptocurrencies run on public blockchains. Every transaction is time-stamped, visible to anyone, and impossible to erase. What the blockchain does not reveal directly is who controls an address. Crypto tracing therefore consists of following the funds until they reach a point of identification — most often, a regulated exchange.

Serious platforms everywhere apply KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (anti-money-laundering) rules. In Europe, the MiCA regulation now licenses and registers crypto-asset service providers. When stolen funds land on a regulated platform, that platform knows the identity of the account holder. This is what makes criminal or civil action possible.

Our crypto tracing service: how it works, step by step

Our blockchain specialists carry out every crypto tracing investigation using Crypto&Check, the methodology we developed in-house. It follows three steps.

Step 1 – Free case review

A first exchange lets us qualify your situation from your initial documents. This filter matters: in some cases, no crypto-asset ever actually moved (the « purchase » was fictitious), and a blockchain investigation would be neither possible nor useful. If that is your case, we tell you honestly and point you toward the right remedies instead of selling you a useless report.

Step 2 – Transaction reconstruction

We then identify and verify every payment operation: date, time, transaction hash, origin and destination addresses. This is the raw material of the analysis — which is why you should keep every transaction history and receipt.

Step 3 – On-chain analysis with professional tools

Free blockchain explorers exist, but they only show raw data, one transaction at a time. There is no consumer tool that traces stolen crypto reliably — and no software that « recovers » it. Our analysts use professional blockchain-analytics software to visualise fund flows as a whole, cluster related addresses, follow the money across platforms, and determine a legally relevant target: an individual, a company, or an exchange.

Demixing: tracing crypto through mixers

To cover their tracks, scammers frequently route stolen funds through mixers (tumblers) such as Tornado Cash: services that blend the funds of many users to break the link between origin and destination addresses.

A mixer complicates tracing — it does not make it impossible. Demixing techniques analyse amounts, timestamps, transaction patterns and address clusters to reconstruct, with a documented degree of probability, the path of the funds through the mixer. Two things must be said honestly: demixing does not succeed in 100% of cases, and its result is expressed as substantiated probabilities, which our report documents transparently so it remains usable in court.

A court-admissible crypto investigation report

The end goal of crypto tracing is not technical performance. It is a document you can actually use in proceedings. Our report summarises the path of the funds clearly, with sources, and includes the background information a non-specialist — investigator, judge, banker — needs to understand the investigation. It serves three purposes:

• Supporting a criminal complaint: the report gives law enforcement concrete, material evidence from day one.
• Founding a civil claim: once the destination platform is identified, it becomes an actionable target.
• Documenting the source of crypto funds: also useful outside litigation, for bank compliance or inheritance matters.

Reports are delivered in English or French and can be used with law enforcement and courts in your own country, supported where needed by our network of partner lawyers in France and across Europe.

Why trust Broker Defense?

• Since 2014, more than 5,500 fraud victims assisted in France and across Europe, and over €10 million recovered through legal action.
• Publicly accountable, featured on French national television and radio (TF1, France 2, France Inter) and in the press (L’Express). Broker Defense France SAS is a registered French company: our corporate records are public.
• Transparent pricing, flat fees announced before you commit, never a percentage of hoped-for « recovery ».
• No false promises, we cannot guarantee recovery. We guarantee evidence, clarity and a legal direction.

Beware of « crypto recovery » services

Crypto tracing has itself become a hunting ground for scammers. Fake « recovery experts » contact victims promising to retrieve and return their funds — in exchange for « validation fees », supposed gas fees, or a miracle recovery software. No software recovers stolen cryptocurrency, and nobody can guarantee restitution. Any such promise is the signature of a second scam targeting the same victim. We document these schemes publicly, and we will never make you a promise we cannot keep.

Pricing and how to start

Our tracing investigations are flat-fee, based on the size of the dispute: €500 (disputes under €30,000), €950 (€30,000–€100,000) or €1,800 (over €100,000), VAT included. Investigations are carried out remotely, worldwide, typically within one to two weeks depending on the complexity of the fund movements.

Start with a free, no-commitment case review: tell us what happened, and we will tell you honestly whether a tracing investigation can help.

Frequently asked questions