When the crypto trail goes cold: mixers, privacy coins, bridges
Sometimes the trail stops. Here is why, and what you can still do.
Most blockchains are public, so a trace can follow money for a long way. A few things break the trail.
What breaks a trail
- Privacy coins. Monero hides senders, receivers and amounts. Once funds are swapped into Monero, they cannot be followed.
- Mixers. A mixer pools money from many people and pays it out again, so the link between in and out is lost or uncertain.
- Some bridges and swaps. A bridge moves value to another chain. Most can be followed, but not all.
What you can still do
- The part of the trail before the money went cold is still evidence. Exchanges used along the way may hold the scammer's identity.
- Report it anyway: police can share information across cases. Report the scam.
- Keep monitoring the last known wallets: scammers sometimes move leftover funds later.
We always say plainly when a trail goes cold, rather than guess.