Let's improve ours Crypto investigations with MetaSleuth
In Anthony F. Janson's work, History of art, the following statement is attributed to the absolute genius Leonardo da Vinci, referring to a poet who would be “...overcome by sleep and hunger before (being able to) describe in words what a painter is capable (of painting) in an instant.”
Certainly the forms in which it is possible to represent reality today have evolved (although we may regret some of the artists of days gone by), but the basic concept expressed by Leonardo remains the same:
ONE IMAGE IS WORTH MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS.
In the field of cryptocurrency investigations, this adage is truer than ever. There is often a need to graphically track the myriad transactions being followed, and a graphical visualization can help to make sense of the entire investigative scheme.
We are helped on this issue by MetaSleuth, a platform created for investigating and tracking crypto-related activities. We particularly like it for its ability to create cost-free charts.
Of course, MetaSleuth is one of the many resources we have included as a Firefox favorite in the collection dedicated to BlockExplorers.
So, let's take a simple case study to show how we could use MetaSleuth for our purposes. We need to find the destination of the funds received (by our imaginary bad guy) at the following address:
BG) 0x65dd24d1d98be9db903e846d753112eb86311347
through the following 3 transactions:
1) 0x7aebc916b5c772fbb1898c663dd718410298c9da5a20b823105b21326b0c44f9
2) 0x1cbf1473fcf15f3e502424ddddc40d177b53e054dcbe6dd3fafacd3a804431c7
3) 0x9443dcd3c790eefa8b7755a21b66c70ff23c78185cb759c6fbf0b78b58ae03a1
Firstly, after logging into the platform, we should enter the address we are looking for into the centre bar on the main screen. The option to choose which chain we want to follow will then appear on the screen immediately.
Immediately afterwards, the platform will display the address we are investigating in the centre of the screen, highlighted in yellow. This address will be enriched with valuable information, such as the transactions from which the funds originate. The three transactions through which the funds arrive are highlighted in red on the left and originate from a Kraken account. The destination address is highlighted in green on the right.
We now know the destination address of the funds we are interested in (0x606DfAA40E35D6079C3FF801bfeADd7B2B9fB679), and through the appropriate icons highlighted in red, we can also open that address with other Blockhain Explorers tools such as Etherscan or Debank.
In fact, clicking on the Etherscan icon will open the page showing the transactions made by the address in question (0x606DfAA40E35D6079C3FF801bfeADd7B2B9fB679). Sorting these transactions by date, from oldest to newest, reveals how easily the platform itself highlights the three transactions made by the address we are investigating.
Upon examining our address, we can see that there are a couple of 'strange' transactions, which we refer to as such because they both point to a service called "Tokelon DEX2". Clicking on the relevant TRXs reveals that they are currency conversions from ETH to USDT (via a conversion to WETH).
These transactions always start and end at our address (0x606DfAA40E35D6079C3FF801bfeADd7B2B9fB679), but the currency is in a different form each time (USDT in this case).
The following chart (highlighted in green) shows how ETHs are directed from the Tokelon DEX2 to Swaps services, where they are converted to another currency (USDT in this case) and returned to the starting address.
However, below we can see how the USDTs are directed first to an OKX Deposit account and then to an OKX Hot Wallet.
Finally, it is worth noting that the created graphs can be customised by adjusting their distances and directions. It is also possible to download the entire graph in .png or .svg format. This is a useful feature for including graphs in investigative reports.
Therefore, we showed how MetaSleuth (even in the free version) could be used to reconstruct and simplify transactions and currency conversions, providing a clear chart with great impact and immediate understanding.
We also demonstrated how easy it is to quickly switch between platforms or services dedicated to Blockchain Explorers using AnuBitux. Our investigations are carried out in a completely secure environment, and nothing will leak unless we decide it should.
