According to CoinDesk, this summer, a $670 bounty was placed on information identifying Elon Musk’s personal crypto wallet through Arkham’s Intel Exchange, which was launched in July. Critics have nicknamed the platform “DOX-to-Earn,” as it encourages users to reveal the identities behind anonymous blockchain addresses, with crypto payable in Arkham’s native token (ARKM). Marina Khaustova, CEO of Crystal Blockchain, warns that while all on-chain information is visible, public forums can be a questionable source for data and will require multiple verifications, including off-chain methods. Wrong conclusions can put the integrity of blockchain analytics and even legal systems at risk.

As the blockchain industry matures alongside institutional adoption and regulatory clarity, analytics providers need to ensure investigations are done carefully and with even more integrity. Consumer-focused analytics tools allowing any Twitter sleuth to play detective raise the stakes for those actors entrusted by public authorities to investigate money laundering, fraud, and criminal activity with real national security implications. Blockchain analytics providers carry a tremendous weight of responsibility in ensuring their data is credible, as all analysis carries potential legal outcomes and the ability to alter someone’s life in the case of criminal indictments by law enforcement. Thorough vetting, both on and off-chain, is required.

The blockchain industry is at an inflection point, with the rise of intel exchanges and “crypto bounties” having the potential to bring a surge of digital witch hunts and even accelerate L2s and privacy coins. The issues intel exchanges face are human rights issues, wherein their service bears more semblance to a publisher than a blockchain startup, and leadership will inevitably have to arbitrate what should and should not exist on their platforms. Forensics firms can correct this course by ensuring audit trails are unquestionable in accuracy and integrity, reaffirming the public’s faith in legal institutions and cryptocurrency as a tool for social good.