As crypto continues to mature, illicit actors evolve with it—no longer relying on simple Bitcoin transfers or single-chain obfuscation. Instead, they now operate across an increasingly complex network of bridges, mixers, and privacy coins, leveraging decentralization to conceal their activities.
At BlockDivers, we investigate these networks. Here’s a breakdown of the tools we see most often in laundering operations today:
Blockchain Bridges – The Cross-Chain Gateway
Bridges allow users to move assets from one chain to another (e.g., Ethereum to Avalanche or BNB Smart Chain). While they’re essential to the multichain economy, they’re also ripe for abuse:
- Criminals use bridges to hop between chains, obscuring fund flow trails.
- Assets swapped between chains become harder to trace with traditional tools.
- High-profile cases like the Ronin Bridge ($625M) and Horizon Bridge ($100M) show the volume and vulnerability.
Our Insight: Effective investigations require cross-chain traceability tools that follow asset conversions across protocols and wrapped tokens.
Mixers & Tumblers – Obscuring the Trail
Mixers pool transactions from multiple users to obfuscate the original source of funds. Well-known examples include:
- Tornado Cash (Ethereum)
- Sinbad (BTC, successor to Blender.io)
These platforms have been used to launder billions in crypto. Forensic teams must analyze timing patterns, output address behavior, and clustering techniques to pierce the veil.
Our Insight: Mixers don’t make funds untraceable — they make tracing labor-intensive, requiring expert-level chain analysis.
Privacy Coins – Monero, Zcash, and Beyond
Privacy coins were designed to anonymize transactions by default:
- Monero (XMR) uses ring signatures and stealth addresses.
- Zcash (ZEC) offers optional shielded transactions using zk-SNARKs.
These currencies are especially attractive to darknet vendors and ransomware actors. While harder to trace, they’re not immune to metadata analysis and behavioral forensics.
Our Insight: Many actors convert assets into privacy coins only after routing them through bridges or mixers — timing and correlation still expose flaws.
Real-World Trends
In 2025, BlockDivers has seen a measurable increase in hybrid laundering schemes that combine all three elements:
- Funds are stolen or extorted on-chain
- Moved through a bridge to another chain
- Obfuscated with a mixer
- Converted into privacy coins, then withdrawn via P2P OTC or high-risk exchanges
How BlockDivers Tracks It All
With deep forensics expertise and access to advanced tracing tools, we follow digital money across chains, assets, and tactics. Our investigators:
- De-anonymize mixing patterns
- Correlate wallet behaviors across blockchains
- Work with legal teams to build court-admissible reports
If you’ve been defrauded, extorted, or exploited via crypto, we can help trace it.
