Blockchain Surveillance: $154 Billion Illicit Crypto Flows Through Public Ledgers

Public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum record every transaction on a permanent ledger, allowing anyone to trace wallet balances, transaction histories, and counterparty relationships.

Chainalysis reported that illicit cryptocurrency addresses received at least $154 billion in 2025, a 162% year-over-year increase from the prior year. This surge in illicit activity is largely due to the ability of analytics firms like Chainalysis to link pseudonymous wallet addresses to real-world identities through entity attribution.

WalletExplorer, operated by Chainalysis, logs visitor IP addresses and requested URLs, raising concerns about user privacy. A warning posted on X in August 2026 urged Bitcoin users to avoid entering their own wallet addresses into public block explorers.