Operation Lighthouse, a multi-day crypto-intelligence sprint led by Chainalysis, has generated 14,300 investigative leads across 11 cryptocurrency exchanges and payment services. The push also flagged more than 7,700 suspect accounts in 125 countries, including 16 registered sex offenders. Hosted at the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance in New York, the operation targeted over 100 distinct child sexual abuse material (CSAM) platforms, forums, and distribution networks on both the surface and dark web.
Inside the sprint
Investigators spent multiple days tearing through on-chain data, cross-referencing addresses and digital identifiers. They examined 29,120 cryptocurrency addresses and digital identifiers in total. The sweep brought together nine or more law enforcement agencies and private-sector partners, including Europol, the Australian Federal Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the UK National Crime Agency. From the private side, Binance, Coinbase, Block, and the Internet Watch Foundation took part.
Reading the numbers right
Chainalysis is careful to say the figures aren't interchangeable. The 14,300 leads, the 7,700 suspect accounts, and the 29,120 addresses each come from a separate stage of the investigation. They don't stack into a single clean total. The operation's scope extended beyond just users to vendors, marketplace operators, and administrators running crypto-enabled CSAM networks—so the counts measure different slices of a very layered problem.
Who's on the hook
Eleven exchanges and payment services are now sitting on a pile of leads. The involved agencies haven't said which companies got what, but the list includes both major global exchanges and smaller payment providers. The fact that 16 registered sex offenders surfaced in the flagged accounts suggests some of those leads will move quickly from intelligence to enforcement. The operation itself was hosted in New York, but the reach is global—125 countries across every time zone.
This isn't a small crackdown. Over 100 CSAM platforms were in the crosshairs, and the operation appears to have mapped a good chunk of the crypto payment layer that supports those networks. The figures also make it clear that the problem isn't confined to one exchange or one region. It's a distributed, cross-border problem, and the response is now matching that shape. The leads are with the participating agencies, and the next step is whatever they do with them.
