Chainalysis expands to APAC with new offices in Tokyo and Singapore

Chainalysis, a major global cryptocurrency analytics firm, is expanding its presence worldwide to embrace more jurisdictions for its crypto investigations.

Providing services to federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI, Chainalysis is launching new offices in Singapore and Tokyo to better service customers in the Asia-Pacific region, the company announced on Sept. 27.

By establishing the two new offices, Chainalysis is doubling down on its commitment to fully support local crypto businesses, government agencies and financial institutions. The new offices will serve as hubs for sales, professional investigative services, and training, the company’s representative said. Ulisse Dell’Orto, managing director of APAC at Chainalysis, will relocate to Singapore to spearhead the new operations as the Managing Director of APAC.

Announcing the news on Twitter, Chainalysis highlighted that the new offices in APAC will serve as an important location for local crypto investigations. Apparently, the firm is intending to be closely investigating the $200 million hack of KuCoin crypto exchange, which is purportedly headquartered in Singapore. Chainalysis tweeted:

KuCoin hack is yet another ex that crypto exchanges, law enforcement & financial institutions all over the world need investigations & compliance tools. We're thrilled to announce new offices in Singapore & Tokyo to better service customers in APAC.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, KuCoin said in 2018 that it was headquartered in Singapore. However, KuCoin is not licensed in Singapore and did not file with the Monetary Authority of Singapore — which is required to operate legally in the country. It remains unclear where KuCoin's headquarters actually are. KuCoin’s company profile states that it “operates in the Seychelles.”

A spokesperson for Chainalysis confirmed that the company is actively investigating the KuCoin hack. According to Chainalysis’ findings, KuCoin’s losses have purportedly accounted for as much as $275 million, making the theft one of the largest hacks of a crypto exchange in history.

The firm has also discovered that a large portion of the stolen crypto was sent to decentralized exchanges, but much of the funds so far remain unspent. The hackers also sent some funds to centralized exchanges and coin swapping services, a representative at Chainalysis said.