Markup of criminal addresses in analytical systems

Marking addresses associated with criminal activity in analytical systems is a crucial step in preventing the further use of stolen funds and increasing the chances of their recovery.

The primary goal of address marking is to alert market participants that a specific address, and any related addresses, are linked to illicit activities. This allows exchanges and payment processors to identify stolen funds, block transactions, and prevent their withdrawal.

For example, in our MS Engine service and Telegram bot, flagged addresses are categorized with labels such as “scam” and “stolen funds”.

The benefits of address marking

1. Enhancing Market Security:
   We continuously notify exchanges, payment processors, blockchain explorers, AML services, and other platforms about newly identified criminal addresses. This helps all market participants, regardless of their chosen service, avoid interacting with illicit funds. Our address markings are automatically updated across all EVM-compatible blockchain explorers, providing real-time risk insights to users.
2. Preventing Cash-Out Attempts:
   If a malicious actor attempts to convert stolen cryptocurrency into fiat through an exchange or payment service, risk detection mechanisms can flag the transaction, freeze the funds, and escalate the case to law enforcement.
3. Facilitating Asset Recovery:
   Once funds are frozen, authorities have a greater chance of confiscating them and returning them to their rightful owners.

By marking illicit addresses, we make cybercriminals’ activities visible to the entire crypto community, significantly complicating their ability to exploit stolen funds.

Can a victim create a markup independently?

We often hear the question: 
“Why should I pay you when I can just flag the address myself using some AML bot?”

Yes, in some cases, users can submit a report to public services (e.g., an AML bot). However:
🔴 Different exchanges use different AML providers.

If the exchange does not use the provider where you created the markup, it simply will not see it.

How we solve this problem

Match Systems works directly with dozens of cryptocurrency exchanges, OTC platforms, blockchain explorers, and analytics providers.

We share information about malicious actors across systems that exchanges actually rely on. This allows us to:

• Ensure that the address is marked within the ecosystem that the specific exchange sees.
• Track asset movement in real time.
• Increase the chances of freezing the stolen funds and preventing their withdrawal.