Frequently Asked Questions
What is Crystal Blockchain?
Crystal Blockchain is an advanced blockchain explorer and analytics tool that provides a solution for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and crypto regulators to untangle blockchain addresses and transactions, along with other blockchain entity connections.
Users can confidently interact with and manage risk for virtual assets and asset connections through an unrivaled investigative toolset. This enables organizations to operate safely and securely while allowing compliance officers to do their job more efficiently.
What is Crystal Blockchain used for?
Crystal helps to understand where cryptocurrencies are flowing from and to. By identifying entities behind transactions, Crystal enables risk-based assessment so law enforcement agencies and compliance teams can be certain about the provenance of funds.
Who are Crystal’s primary customers?
Crystal’s primary customers are banks and financial institutions, virtual asset service providers (VASPs), crypto exchanges and businesses, and government agencies. More details on specific features and platform solution use cases can be found on Crystal’s designated customer pages:S
Which cryptocurrencies does Crystal currently support?
Crystal currently supports Bitcoin, Bitcoin SV, Tether, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum (including ERC-20, ERC-721), Ethereum Classic, Stellar, Ripple, Dogecoin, Dash, Zcash, Algorand, Tron (including TRC-20), EOS, Solana, Matic, Cardano, Binance Smart Chain (including BEP-20) with more coins to be added soon.
Can Crystal be used for AML and KYC procedures?
Crystal provides real-time risk assessment capabilities for evaluating and comparing risks associated with multiple blockchain transactions and their connections. The platform gives a risk score based on blockchain interactions for a comprehensive assessment. In addition, users can set up alerts based on different parameters and changes that occur with monitored transactions (KYT). Users can utilize Crystal’s monitoring systems to improve AML/ KYC procedures.
Can Crystal help detect dark market addresses and service providers with sufficient efficiency?
Yes, it can. Crystal constantly updates the platform database to provide up-to-date information on thousands of dark market service addresses. In addition to providing identification for a broad array of darknet entities, the Crystal team has produced in-depth market analysis and trend reports to ensure Crystal users have complete confidence in our awareness and understanding of the darknet. You can find our report on crypto activity in the darknet by following this link.
How does Crystal collect data about known risky wallets and other entities?
Crystal regularly collects and analyzes data from 1,500 different public sources, assessing the ownership of addresses that can be publicly found on the internet and fund transfers through online platforms to determine compliance procedures. In addition to this, Crystal purchases data from reliable vendors and consistently monitors the internet on the subject of malware attacks, thefts, and any other illicit activities involving cryptocurrencies.
Can users amend or add data to the Crystal platform (in case of false attribution of an address to an entity or missing entity)?
Crystal continuously updates its list of entities, so if a major exchange is missing, the team is likely to be working on adding it. Additionally, you can create your list of risky addresses and be warned if you encounter them using the explorer, visualization, or tracking tools.
However, should there be any mistakes or gaps in Crystal’s data, please send an e-mail to contact@crystalblockchain.com with a brief explanation of what mistake or gap was found.
How can users check Crystal's list of known entities in the system?
Within the Explorer tab in the web app, users can find and search the complete list of known entities within the Crystal solution.
How does Crystal’s risk scoring process work?
In Crystal’s default setup, entities that perform illegal activities, or exchanges with lower KYC barriers, would have a high-risk score. On the other hand, KYC-compliant businesses and known mining pools have low-risk scores, and each of those entity risk scores also affects other entities that interact with these known low or high-risk entities, up to 100,000 hops.
Also, there are two types of risk labels on the platform:
- Supplied by an expert: for known entities
- Calculated by the algorithm: for addresses whose owner is unknown
The first set of labels is assigned based on manual expert analysis of publicly available information (e.g., business type or compliance with KYC/AML rules). Those labels can be later configured.
The second set of labels is determined by the algorithm based on a risk score profile set up by the user.
Can users customize the risk scoring of entities according to custom needs?
The user can fully customize risk score types and adjust them according to the customer’s needs.
What editions of Crystal are available?
There are three ways of using the Crystal Blockchain solution:
- Crystal Expert: is accessed through the web application, runs on Crystal servers, and is located in a data center in the EU.
- Crystal API: is accessed through the REST API. The application runs on Crystal servers and is located in a data center in the EU.
- Crystal PRO: is accessed through the web application, deployed and run on the customer’s servers/infrastructure (on-premise application).
A more detailed comparison of Crystal’s analytics solutions can be found here.
What are the hardware requirements for using the on-premise edition of Crystal (Crystal PRO)?
Crystal PRO is primarily focused on government and law enforcement entities for whom privacy is of utmost importance, and hardware requirements may be discussed upon request.
What is the difference between the Expert and PRO versions of Crystal?
There are two main differences between the PRO and Expert versions:
- Crystal hosts the Expert version, and PRO is hosted on the customer’s servers.
- Users can privately input their data into Crystal PRO. In addition, the PRO version gives direct access to Crystal’s database and data.
How can users reach the support team if there are issues with the trial license or the API key?
If your trial license has expired, please contact sales@crystalblockchain.com to extend your license, otherwise please contact the team at support@crystalblockchain.com.
What if immediate feedback is needed regarding an issue?
The crystal sales team works very hard to ensure their customers get the best possible experience. If you have a question about trial or pricing – don’t hesitate to reach out to your sales manager. Please fill out this form if you are looking to test our demo version. We’ll be in touch!
Still have questions?
Crystal Blockchain
Strawinskylaan 3051, 1077 ZX Amsterdam, Netherlands
General enquiries
contact@crystalblockchain.comFor financial companies
enterprise@crystalblockchain.comFor law enforcement organizations
le@crystalblockchain.comFor investigation services
investigations@crystalblockchain.comCrystal Blockchain
51 Eastcheap, London EC3M 1DT, UK
General enquiries
contact@crystalblockchain.comFor financial companies
enterprise@crystalblockchain.comFor law enforcement organizations
le@crystalblockchain.comFor investigation services
investigations@crystalblockchain.com