Cooperating Instant Exchanges as Pivot Points
tactic
Core idea
No-KYC instant swap services usually look like black boxes, but two compliant ones, ChangeNOW and FixedFloat, will provide information to law enforcement on properly-formed requests. Treat “the funds went to ChangeNOW” as a pivot opportunity, not a dead end.
Components
- Model: the service generates a deposit address on the source chain for each swap; the user sends the source asset to that deposit address; the service forwards the converted asset to the destination address on the target chain. The deposit address is the choke-point.
- If you can isolate the deposit to one of these services on your trace, a properly-formed LE request can recover the destination address: effectively re-opening the trace on the other side.
- For an LE request, document: the deposit address, the timestamp, the input amount, and the on-chain transaction hash.
When to use
When a trace reaches a ChangeNOW or FixedFloat deposit address, capture the choke-point details to enable an LE request rather than abandoning the trace.
Example
A trace ends at a ChangeNOW deposit address; documenting the deposit address, timestamp, input amount, and tx hash lets an LE request recover the destination address on the target chain, resuming the trace.
Related
Cross-Chain Obfuscation Categories, Breaking Obfuscation: Five-Part Strategy, Monero Is the Practical Ceiling of On-Chain Attribution