Blockchain
intelligence
Tracing
Attribution
Risk analysis
Linda Costea / Intelligence & investigations portfolio
Blockchain intelligence.
Financial crime investigations.
I connect on-chain activity, fraud signals and open-source evidence to reconstruct events, test attribution and support defensible risk decisions.
Open to AML, compliance operations, intelligence, investigations and financial crime roles · Selected collaborations
01
From on-chain signal
04
to defensible insight
TRACES
CONNECTIONS
PATTERNS
PEOPLE
INTELLIGENCE
CONNECTIONS
PATTERNS
PEOPLE
INTELLIGENCE
A MORE COMPLETE PICTURE
TRACE · VERIFY · CONTEXTUALISE
Blockchain
Financial crime
investigations
KYC · KYB · EDD
PEP & sanctions screening
Transaction monitoring
Open-source
intelligence
Digital evidence
Geolocation
Entity analysis
Investigative
methodology
Research
Analysis
Reporting
Compliance & regulatory coverage
From customer risk
to transaction context.
Investigation experience supported by the controls, screening disciplines and regulatory context that shape defensible financial-crime decisions.
Customer & entity
due diligence
Risk understanding from identity and ownership through higher-risk review.
Screening, monitoring
& escalation
Resolving alerts through context, corroboration and evidence-based disposition.
Controls & operational
delivery
Turning recurring investigative findings into stronger workflows and controls.
Risk technology &
regulatory context
Assessing tooling and requirements against real investigative use cases.
01 — Fields of inquiry
Follow the signal.
Understand the system.
Investigative work at the intersection of blockchain data, open sources and financial crime typologies.
Blockchain intelligence
Transaction-flow analysis, entity exposure assessment and cross-chain movement mapping—translated into decisions, not data dumps.
Financial crime investigations
KYC, KYB and enhanced due diligence; PEP and sanctions screening; transaction monitoring; and structured analysis of fraud and laundering indicators.
Open-source intelligence
Ethical collection and corroboration of public records, digital traces and contextual evidence to strengthen an investigative hypothesis.
01 — Selected portfolio
Investigations,
shown through method.
Three public-safe case studies showing the question, analytical work, evidence boundary and investigative outcome.
ANONYMIZED SCAM TRACE
01
Scam-flow tracing to an attributed VASP
Transaction sequencing · Wallet relationships · OSINTInvestigated smaller transfers followed by much larger transactions, reconstructing the sequence and tracing subsequent movements to an attributed virtual-asset service provider.
Open case note →
TRON ↔ ETHEREUM
02
Cross-chain USDT tracing
Cryptocurrency intelligence · Complex investigationsReconstructed USDT movements across Tron and Ethereum, examining intermediary wallets, service hops and mixer exposure while validating every cross-chain link.
Open case note →
FROM SIGNAL TO NETWORK
03
Fraud network & control analysis
Behavioural intelligence · Fraud signals · Rule calibrationConnected recurring indicators across separate investigations, revealing a wider fraud pattern and an inconsistency in how the control logic responded.
Open case note →02 — Method
A defensible
investigative process.
Each investigation starts with a testable question, preserves source provenance and separates observed fact, analytical inference and unresolved uncertainty.
Discuss a related role or project →-
01
DISCOVER
Frame
Define the question, scope and evidentiary threshold before collecting.
-
02
ANALYSE
Trace
Follow on-chain flows and contextual signals across relevant networks.
-
03
VERIFY
Corroborate
Test findings against independent public sources and alternative explanations.
-
04
CONNECT
Communicate
Deliver a concise, defensible narrative with limitations made explicit.
03 — Selected impact
Built controls.
Fixed what failed.
Selected outcomes that materially changed response speed, restored customer access and strengthened operational resilience.
Turned incident response into an always-on control.
Designed a 24/7 monitoring and escalation workflow that replaced a slow, reactive process with rapid ownership, clearer routing and a measurable reduction in median resolution time.
Restored access after faulty fraud logic.
Took over a high-impact remediation, isolated the incorrect rule behaviour, coordinated the correction and validated the outcome before the control returned to service.
Performed when speed and judgement both mattered.
Maintained exceptional productivity in a time-sensitive investigation and escalation environment without reducing evidence quality or control discipline.
Made automated controls more reliable in practice.
Tested identity and proof-of-address workflows against real operational scenarios, converted defects into precise Jira requirements and supported cross-functional remediation through validation.
04 — Toolkit & credentials
Tools support the judgement.
They do not replace it.
Technology is used to generate and test leads; attribution and escalation remain evidence-led.
Blockchain intelligence
Chainalysis Reactor · Chainalysis KYT · Arkham · Blockchain explorers · Wallet and entity-link analysis · Multi-hop and cross-chain tracing
Fraud, payments & identity
Sift · Checkout.com · Sumsub · Veriff · KYCSpider · IDnow · Dotfile · ComplyAdvantage · IP and device intelligence
Automation quality assurance
Resistant AI · Instabase · Human review of extraction and verification outputs · False-positive analysis · Defect documentation
Research & delivery
OSINT · Adverse media · Corporate-source checks · ICIJ datasets · Tor/onion research · Reverse-image research · Jira · Excel · Notion
CERTIFICATIONS
Chainalysis Certified Investigator
Chainalysis Certified Compliance Analyst
ICA Specialist Certificate in Combating the Financing of Terrorism
ADDITIONAL TRAINING
Chainalysis KYT and CCFC · Thomson Reuters AML · INSEAD Blockchain Revolution in Financial Services
REGULATORY KNOWLEDGEFATF Travel Rule · EU AML/CFT · MiCA awareness · Swiss FINMA and French AMF exposure
LANGUAGES
German · Native
Greek · Native
English · Professional working proficiency
LC / 03LC+
Evidence before assumption.
Context before conclusion.
05 — Profile
Intelligence with
investigative discipline.
Financial crime investigator specialising in complex cryptocurrency tracing, intelligence-led fraud analysis and operational risk improvement.
More than four years across regulated digital-asset environments, spanning KYC, KYB and enhanced due diligence, PEP and sanctions screening, adverse-media research, transaction monitoring, payment exceptions and blockchain investigations. Transactional, behavioural, on-chain and open-source evidence is connected to reconstruct activity, attribute risk and support defensible escalation.
Investigative practice
Reconstruct multi-hop and cross-chain flows, connect wallet and entity relationships, and identify the wider network behind suspicious activity.
Evidence standard
Validate sources, distinguish transaction links from actor attribution and state uncertainty, limitations and alternative explanations.
Operational impact
Convert recurring investigative patterns into stronger fraud controls, clearer escalation and measurable workflow improvement.
Complex investigations
Forward & backward tracing · Multi-hop and cross-chain analysis · Wallet and VASP attribution · Evidence-based escalation
Control impact
Detected recurring fraud patterns and control gaps · Improved detection logic with Product and Engineering · Reduced false positives without weakening risk coverage
Risk operations
Translated investigation findings into operational risk changes · Documented requirements and tracked delivery in Jira · Coordinated testing with Product and Engineering
Vendor research
Researched third-party fraud, identity and risk tools · Compared investigative coverage, workflow fit and operational trade-offs to support vendor decisions
Credentials
Chainalysis Certified Investigator · Chainalysis Certified Compliance Analyst · ICA Specialist Certificate in CFT
Some messages are not meant
to be seen at first glance.
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04 — Contact
Roles, research
or complex investigations.
I am open to relevant intelligence, investigations and financial-crime opportunities, as well as selected research and collaboration enquiries. Please do not include passwords, private keys, seed phrases or highly sensitive evidence.
CV available on request.
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