On-Chain Forensics
On-chain forensics is the practice of analyzing blockchain transaction data to reconstruct patterns of behavior, identify entities, trace fund flows, and detect anomalous activity. Unlike traditional financial forensics (which relies on subpoenas and private database access), on-chain forensics is permissionless — all transaction data is public and accessible to anyone running a node or querying an indexer. Techniques include: transaction graph analysis (tracing fund flows through multiple hops and across bridges), behavioral clustering (grouping addresses by shared deposit addresses, gas funding patterns, or temporal signatures), heuristic labeling (tagging addresses based on known exchange wallets, contract factories, or MEV bot patterns), and statistical anomaly detection (identifying transactions that deviate from normal on-chain behavior distributions). On-chain forensics powers everything from compliance screening (AML/KYT) to MEV research (builder behavior analysis) to security incident response (exploit traceback and fund recovery).