Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis said on August 25, 2026 that Operation Lighthouse, a multi-day global crypto-intelligence sprint hosted at the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance in New York, identified more than 7,700 suspect accounts across 125 countries and generated 14,300 investigative leads for 11 cryptocurrency exchanges and payment services.
The operation focused on crypto-enabled child sexual abuse material networks and examined 29,120 cryptocurrency addresses and digital identifiers, tracing activity across more than 100 distinct CSAM platforms, forums and distribution networks on both the surface web and dark web.
Chainalysis stressed that the reported figures represent separate investigative stages and should not be treated as interchangeable counts. The 7,700-plus suspect accounts identified included 16 registered sex offenders. The 14,300 leads were passed to exchanges and payment services, while the 29,120 addresses and identifiers were examined during the investigation.
Operation Lighthouse brought together more than nine law enforcement agencies and more than 13 private-sector and nonprofit partners. Participants named by Chainalysis included Europol, the Australian Federal Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the UK National Crime Agency, Binance, Coinbase, Block and the Internet Watch Foundation. Investigators targeted consumers, vendors, marketplace operators and administrators linked to suspected CSAM networks.
The operation highlights the growing use of blockchain analytics by public-private partnerships to trace illicit crypto activity and share actionable intelligence with exchanges, without naming any specific cryptocurrency as the focus of the probe.
