Dusting Another tagging technique, which does not rely on open source, is dusting. Dust is simply a trace amount of cryptocurrency left over in a crypto wallet, also known as Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXO), that has negligible monetary value. Dusting involves continuously sending small amounts of cryptocurrency to dynamic addresses created by services of interest and tracing the money using blockchain analytics tools or block explorers. In this way, dusting allows a user to tag addresses associated with different services. This technique, combined with clustering, often allows a user to fully attribute all the addresses of a service. Tagging maps the blockchain ecosystem, to quickly reveal a variety of entities. The benefits of tagging include: Follow the money to exchanges or Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs): Identifying and tagging exchanges or VASPs can serve investigators who pursue the money trail to these services, which are bound by strict Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, including Know Your Customer (KYC). KYC requires VASPs to verify the identity of their customers and their customers' transaction counterparts. Tagging exchanges and VASPs enables financial investigators to easily understand which exchange or VASP they should approach to ask for the illicit transaction maker identity. Indicate illicit behaviors: Identifying and tagging services intended to obscure transactions may reveal money laundering attempts. Mixers (also known as tumblers, shufflers, or blenders) pool, group and scramble one user’s cryptocurrency with another’s, thus obscuring the money trail. These services are popular among criminals and terrorists. Limitations with this methodology The main problem with tagging occurs when bad actors exploit privacy-enhancing services, like mixers and shapeshifters, since they prevent authorities from following the money trail to an exchange or VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider). In these instances, tagging a privacy-enhancing service does not typically aid in de-ammonization of the suspect. Open-source analytics enable law enforcement and security organizations to rapidly identify and tag diverse services on the blockchain: online exchanges, distributed exchanges and shapeshifters, anonymizing services such as mixers, payment services, gambling sites, donation addresses and additional platforms and entities on the blockchain. Tagging of services within the ecosystem Open-source Methodologies