The initiative brought together law enforcement agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, Europol, and the UK’s National Crime Agency, alongside private-sector firms such as Binance, Coinbase, and Block. By combining blockchain transaction records with internal data from exchanges and payment services, participants mapped financial activity tied to distributors and marketplace administrators. The effort successfully flagged 16 accounts directly associated with registered sex offenders.
In section Cryptocurrency
Operation Lighthouse tracks 7,700 suspect accounts in CSAM crackdown
Operation Lighthouse, a multi-day investigative sprint hosted at the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance in New York, has generated 14,300 leads after tracing 29,120 cryptocurrency addresses linked to over 100 platforms distributing child sexual abuse material, resulting in the identification of 7,700 suspect accounts across 125 countries.
While cryptocurrency represents a smaller share of overall CSAM-related finance, its use has risen as offenders attempt to obscure trails via privacy coins like Monero or instant exchangers that bypass standard verification. The investigation focused on priority targets rather than general training, using months of pre-sprint data enrichment to pinpoint activity. Participating exchanges are now processing these leads to support account-level investigations and potential legal action, leveraging the transparency of public blockchain records to connect illicit payments to identifiable services.
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