Can stolen crypto be traced?

Because the records are public. Each transaction is written to the blockchain it was sent on, with the sending and receiving addresses, the amount and the time, and anyone can read it. The FBI's IC3 says this lets law enforcement trace cryptocurrency transactions in ways not possible with other financial systems.

Addresses don't carry names, so a trace doesn't tell you who the thief is. It tells you where the money went, and that is what police, lawyers and exchanges need to take the next step.

• —Every hop from your wallet onwards, including where the funds were split across addresses or swapped into another asset.
• —Where the funds are now, or where they left the chain, for example a deposit to an exchange.
• —Which endpoint addresses belong to exchanges or other services, because those are the places that can freeze funds or identify a customer.
• —Details that point to a specific account. On the XRP Ledger, for instance, exchanges use destination tags to tell which customer to credit, so a deposit's tag matters as much as its address.

A trace written for others to rely on also records how each hop was connected and how confident the examiner is in it, so a compliance team or court doesn't have to take anyone's word for it.

When the funds are deliberately scattered. In a June 2025 forfeiture case, the US Department of Justice described a laundering network that spread fraud proceeds across many cryptocurrency addresses and accounts, with hundreds of thousands of transactions, to hide where the money came from. Investigators still traced it using blockchain analysis, but the more the funds are split and moved, the more work a trace takes.

When the funds cross borders. The IC3 warns that US law enforcement may face significant challenges following cryptocurrency into other jurisdictions, particularly where anti-money-laundering rules are weak.

When the asset changes. Stolen USDT can be frozen by its issuer, Tether, but once it has been swapped into bitcoin, ether or TRX, which have no issuer, that option is gone. The funds can still be followed, but there are fewer ways to stop them.

Not on its own. The IC3 notes that cryptocurrency transactions are irrevocable. Money comes back only when the trace leads to someone with the legal power to act. Binance, for example, says it cannot freeze a user's assets without an official freezing order from law enforcement or a court, and Tether freezes USDT following appropriate legal proceedings, working with law enforcement.

When that works, it can work at scale. In June 2025 the Department of Justice filed to forfeit about $225 million in USDT after law enforcement used blockchain analysis to trace the transactions, identify victims and seize the funds. But recovery is the exception: Immunefi found that only 7.7% of the $1.5 billion lost to crypto hacks and frauds in 2024 was recovered.

• —Save the details the IC3 asks for: the cryptocurrency addresses, the amounts and types of cryptocurrency, the transaction hashes, and the dates and times of each transaction.
• —Report it to the IC3 (or Report Fraud in the UK) and your local police, with those details.
• —If the funds went to an exchange, report it to that exchange too. Our exchange guide explains how.
• —Be wary of anyone offering to recover the money. The IC3 specifically warns about cryptocurrency recovery services, especially those charging an upfront fee.

We trace stolen funds across UTXO, EVM, XRPL, Tron and Solana chains and write the result as a hash-sealed report your lawyer, law enforcement or an exchange compliance team can act on. The intake review is free, and if the trace is unlikely to help, we'll tell you before you pay. We don't promise recovery.