The objective of BlockSherlock is to connect different security organizations in Brazil. The website has a User Manual for cryptocurrency analysis portals.
Few law enforcement agencies have received training to understand what is behind cryptocurrency transactions. This prompted Vytas Zumas, a member of the Civil Police of Goiás, in Brazil, to launch BlockSherlock, a platform that compiles tools for the analysis of cryptocurrencies.
Zumas is a professor and contender for the Civil Police and is part of the General Coordination for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security of Brazil. This coordination is responsible for monitoring cryptocurrency crimes in the South American country.
For this reason, Zumas had a series of tools in the bookmarks of his browser that he used daily for his activities. Realizing about the list that he had created, he thought that it would be practical to organize these tools and make them freely available to the public on a website. That idea led to the launch of the BlockSherlock platform.
Seeing the progress of BlockSherlock, and thinking about the capabilities of other law enforcement agencies, Vytas decided to take a step forward. He contacted Ana Paula Bez Batti, Attorney General for Finance at the Brazilian Public Ministry intending to make BlockSherlock official.
Cryptocurrency Analysis Tool Belt
The launch of the website occurred in August of this year and has several important sections. One section is dedicated to blocking explorers of various cryptocurrencies, another section allows users to visualize the volume of transactions, and one has analysis tools for cryptocurrencies.
The educational nature of the page is prominent. In the “Quick Start Guide,” BlockSherlock explains what each of the analysis tools is for. Additionally, it has a User Manual where it shares the characteristics of each portal in greater detail.
Among the intelligence tools shared on the website, it is possible to find Bitaps, a Bitcoin block explorer, which provides information on fees, rewards, nodes, and unconfirmed transactions. It also has Orbit, a tool for exploring the network of a blockchain, recursively tracking the transaction history.
However, there are some resources on the website that are blocked, such as the guides for Brazilian security forces. This website also allows coordinating organizations to conduct investigations involving cryptocurrencies.
BlockSherlock redirects people to a form where institutional accounts of the Brazilian government can request support from the Ministry of Justice. In this way, they seek to connect experts in the area.
It is possible to see that the security organizations in Brazil use free software tools available to all public. This shows a characteristic of cryptocurrencies: everything is public and it is possible to understand it through education.
The Brazilian government does not have special tracking tools, but it uses the same tools as any user, as in the case of BlockSherlock. However, Chainalysis is already in Brazil and could be seeking a new space in the surveillance market of the South American country.
By Willmen Blanco
