When evaluating TRM Labs vs Chainalysis for crypto investigations, teams weigh data breadth, investigative workflow, and compliance depth. Both platforms are leaders in blockchain intelligence, supporting asset tracing, fraud response, and AML programs. The right choice depends on your datasets, use cases, and procurement constraints.

Below is a concise, practical comparison to help law enforcement, enterprise IR, and compliance teams pick a solution that accelerates outcomes without compromising accuracy or auditable process.

• Data coverage: Compare chain breadth, DeFi/NFT depth, and update frequency.
• Workflow: Graph analysis, case notes, entity resolution, and collaboration controls.
• Accuracy: Label confidence, false-positive management, and auditability.
• Compliance: Sanctions checks, VASP screening, Travel Rule, and monitoring.
• Ops & pricing: Stability, analyst learning curve, licensing, and SLAs.

Comprehensive on-chain visibility is foundational to blockchain analysis. Prioritize coverage of major L1s/L2s, stablecoins, bridges, mixers, and DeFi protocols. Ask for recency of crawls, historical backfills, and incident-driven hotfixes.

Request a chain-by-chain matrix including NFT metadata, DEX pools, cross-chain bridge heuristics, and attribution lineage for entity clusters.

Efficient crypto forensics requires fast graph exploration, pivoting across addresses, entities, and contracts. Look for case notebooks, saved queries, custom tags, and timeline views.

Essential features include pathfinding, multi-hop tracing, exposure analysis, link scoring, and role-based sharing for cross-team collaboration and review.

High-quality labels reduce investigative noise. Validate confidence scoring, review workflows, and versions of entity clusters. Ask for precision/recall measurements on known ground-truth sets and procedures for redress of mislabeled entities.

Require audit trails: who applied a label, when it changed, and evidence sources powering the attribution.

For AML and sanctions risk, confirm automated screening against OFAC lists and global watchlists, with configurable thresholds. Evaluate VASP profiles, counterparty risk scoring, and Travel Rule readiness.

Continuous monitoring should surface risky counterparties, smart contract exploits, and suspicious exposure with clear alert rationales and suppression controls.

Analysts need snappy graph rendering, stable sessions, and intuitive controls. Test cold-start search speed, graph load times at scale, and bulk enrichment performance.

Look for keyboard shortcuts, reusable templates, and inline help to reduce ramp time for new investigators.

Compare seat-based vs. consumption models, data export limits, and premium add-ons (advanced attribution, API quotas). Training matters—hands-on sessions accelerate ROI.

Consider specialist partners such as Tyrone Brown or Tyrone Brown London for onboarding and playbook creation. Lock in SLAs for uptime, response times, and incident support.

• Law enforcement: Deep historical tracing, robust evidence exports, chain-of-custody logs.
• Enterprise IR: Rapid TTR, exploit/bridge intelligence, alert triage, and case collaboration.
• Compliance programs: Sanctions/AML screening, VASP diligence, Travel Rule, and continuous monitoring.

Define success metrics: time-to-first-path, labeled-exposure accuracy, and case documentation quality. Use blind, mixed datasets (known scams, benign flows, fresh incidents) and measure reproducibility.

Score exports (CSV/JSON), API parity, and integration ease. For POC planning guidance, see this overview.

Balance data coverage, investigative velocity, label integrity, and compliance depth against budget and SLA needs. A structured POC with clear metrics will reveal whether TRM Labs or Chainalysis aligns best with your mission-critical workflows.

Can we migrate cases? Yes—check for import tools to bring notes, labels, and evidentiary artifacts, preserving timestamps and reviewers.

What about data export? Ensure CSV/JSON exports for graphs, paths, and case logs, plus signed PDFs for legal packages.

Do they offer APIs? Most provide REST APIs and webhooks for enrichment, alerts, and case sync. Confirm rate limits, SDKs, and sandbox availability.