Blockchain and cryptocurrency tracing as evidence — Legal frameworks for using on-chain data in financial crime investigations

  • Unique Paper ID: 186636
  • PageNo: 2253-2261
  • Abstract:
  • Blockchain forensics the collection, analysis, and interpretation of publicly available ledger data have become a routine and powerful tool for financial-crime investigations. On-chain tracing can identify wallet addresses, link addresses to exchanges or services, and follow flows of stolen, laundered, or illicitly obtained assets. But transforming ledger-derived correlations and analytics into court-worthy evidence raises difficult questions about admissibility, reliability, hearsay, provenance, privacy, and the proper role of expert testimony. This article maps the technical and legal landscape for on-chain evidence in major jurisdictions, examines leading and recent cases shaping admissibility and liability, and proposes best practices for investigators, prosecutors, and defence counsel to ensure that blockchain tracing is both effective and legally robust. Recent litigation around Tornado Cash, decisions on sanctions and property classification, high-profile criminal prosecutions using clustering tools, and UK civil tracing rulings demonstrate both the promise and the friction between existing legal doctrines and emerging technology.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{186636,
        author = {ARPIT SHARMA and Sanyukta Singh and Adwait Pratap Singh},
        title = {Blockchain and cryptocurrency tracing as evidence — Legal frameworks for using on-chain data in financial crime investigations},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {6},
        pages = {2253-2261},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=186636},
        abstract = {Blockchain forensics the collection, analysis, and interpretation of publicly available ledger data have become a routine and powerful tool for financial-crime investigations. On-chain tracing can identify wallet addresses, link addresses to exchanges or services, and follow flows of stolen, laundered, or illicitly obtained assets. But transforming ledger-derived correlations and analytics into court-worthy evidence raises difficult questions about admissibility, reliability, hearsay, provenance, privacy, and the proper role of expert testimony. This article maps the technical and legal landscape for on-chain evidence in major jurisdictions, examines leading and recent cases shaping admissibility and liability, and proposes best practices for investigators, prosecutors, and defence counsel to ensure that blockchain tracing is both effective and legally robust. Recent litigation around Tornado Cash, decisions on sanctions and property classification, high-profile criminal prosecutions using clustering tools, and UK civil tracing rulings demonstrate both the promise and the friction between existing legal doctrines and emerging technology.},
        keywords = {},
        month = {November},
        }

Cite This Article

SHARMA, A., & Singh, S., & Singh, A. P. (2025). Blockchain and cryptocurrency tracing as evidence — Legal frameworks for using on-chain data in financial crime investigations. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 12(6), 2253–2261.

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