Case Studies

Stories from the crypto frontline

Every portfolio tells a story. Here are some of the ones we can tell, drawn from real investigations for banks, wealth managers and HNWIs.

One Hop From a $6bn Fraud

One hop from a $6bn fraud.

How Hoptrail identified and protected a client from exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency seizure.

$6bn
Value of the Lantian Gerui fraud
$1.5bn
BTC linked to seized Coinbase addresses
1 hop
Adjacent from prospect to the fraud
4 sources
Public record types corroborated

During a source of wealth engagement in 2025, Hoptrail traced a prospect's Bitcoin ecosystem to wallets attributed to a $6 billion Ponzi scheme prosecuted in the UK - the Lantian Gerui fraud, orchestrated by Zhimin Qian between 2014 and 2017.

The exposure was in an adjacent flow - structurally invisible to automated source of funds screening. Only in-depth ecosystem analysis, corroborated against law enforcement records, mainstream media, court documents and social media, surfaced the connection.

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Wallet ecosystem analysis linking prospect to the Lantian Gerui fraud
From Counterstrike to Crypto Wealth

From Counterstrike to crypto wealth.

How Hoptrail evidenced the source of an unusual crypto fortune and paved the way for bank onboarding.

Multi-million
Client wealth onboarded
30,000+
Deposit addresses attributed
30+
Skin sales reconciled
3
CS:GO marketplaces mapped

During a source of wealth engagement, Hoptrail traced a Client's crypto portfolio back to the sale of Counter-Strike (CS:GO) skins on third-party marketplaces - an unusual but legitimate origin. Skin sales settled in ETH, but the marketplaces themselves weren't attributed in the bank's blockchain analytics tools, leaving the wealth appearing as unexplained receipts.

Hoptrail ran a bespoke wallet capture - test transactions to identify marketplace hot wallets, then Ethereum attribution heuristics surfacing 30,000+ associated deposit addresses. Reconciling these against the Client's account records established a clear evidential link, satisfying the bank's AML checks and unlocking onboarding of a multi-million dollar relationship.

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CS:GO skins marketplace showing tradeable in-game items with real-world value
More Case Studies

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