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Evidence & LegalVASP Records: What to Request and What Exists

VASP Records: What to Request and What Exists

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Core idea

Knowing which instrument to serve is only half of it. You also need to know what the exchange actually holds, because a request that names the records gets a useful return and a vague one gets a partial dump. Most US and Canadian VASPs can produce five categories of record, and a first approach through a law-enforcement portal has a shorter, sharper ask than a full subpoena.

Components

  • The five record categories most US and Canadian VASPs can produce:
    1. Activity and IP address logs, plus the multi-factor authentication device log.
    2. Onboarding information, the ID and selfie images, and the identity-verification report.
    3. For a corporate account: incorporation documents, beneficial ownership, and whatever else fits that entity type.
    4. Transaction history for deposits and withdrawals, which usually carries the transaction hashes and counterparty wallet addresses.
    5. Communication records: emails, phone calls, and support tickets.
  • The five-item first ask through a law-enforcement portal or compliance liaison:
    1. KYC identity of the account holder.
    2. Current account balance, which tells you whether anything is still recoverable.
    3. Trade history, which tells you whether the funds were swapped into something else.
    4. Deposit and withdrawal history, which surfaces other funds and other counterparties.
    5. IP information, showing where the account was accessed from.
  • Before you send anything, pin down: the jurisdiction the business sits in, its regulatory or licensing status, and a working contact route. Common address patterns are info@, cs@, compliance@, aml@, and pr@ at the company domain, and the LinkedIn profiles of named compliance staff are a fallback when the mailbox goes nowhere.
  • Out-of-jurisdiction does not mean out of reach. Many VASPs abroad voluntarily honour a request on official law-enforcement letterhead and hand over the same records they would on a subpoena. Others will only move on mutual legal assistance, which the source puts at six months minimum; contacting the jurisdiction’s Financial Intelligence Unit directly can shorten that.

When to use

Once a trace reaches a deposit address at a service and you are drafting the ask. Also useful at scoping, to set expectations on what a case can realistically produce.

Avoid when

Do not treat a records menu as authority to request them. Follow your agency policy or your prosecutor’s direction on legal process first, and see Compelling VASP Disclosure: The Legal-Process Ladder for the instrument. In the private sector, none of this is available without counsel and a civil route.

Example

A trace ends at an OKX deposit address. The first contact through the LE portal asks the five short questions, the balance answer shows the funds are still on account, and that converts the matter from a records request into a freeze and seizure conversation before the full subpoena is even served.

Compelling VASP Disclosure: The Legal-Process Ladder · Service Choke-Points: What Each Service Type Can Give You · Exchange / VASP KYC Correlation · Working with Law Enforcement: Capacity, Speed, and Cross-Sector Coalitions · Freezing Funds with an Exchange Email · Time-Decay of Crypto Evidence · Know When to Stop Tracing · What to Collect: On-Chain & Off-Chain Evidence

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Three Conversations With the Prosecutor Before You DraftWhat to Collect: On-Chain & Off-Chain Evidence