Illustrative cases, labelled as illustrative cases.
Every case study here is built on synthetic data. We do not publish real customer cases, and we do not anonymise a real case and present it as a capability claim.
Are ChainwatchCrypto case studies real cases?
Every case study published by ChainwatchCrypto is an illustrative case built on synthetic data and labelled as such, because real client engagements are confidential. The cases show method rather than outcomes, and they deliberately include a trace that failed. Your own case will not resemble them in detail.
Illustrative case: a trace that ended at an exchange
Six hops from an unauthorised transfer to an attributed centralised service, and what that did and did not make possible.
Illustrative case: a trace that ended at a mixing service
A case where the honest finding was that the trail stopped, why we reported it that way, and what the customer was able to do with it.
Illustrative case: business email compromise, traced in hours
A redirected settlement, a fast first hop, and the difference the reporting window made.
This is a deliberate constraint, not a shortage of work.
Publishing a real case, even anonymised, risks two things. It can expose a customer who is identifiable from the shape of their own matter, and it invites the reader to treat a single outcome as a general capability claim.
Synthetic cases avoid both while still showing method — which is the only part that transfers to your situation anyway.
It will carry explicit written permission from the customer, and it will say so on the page. Anything not carrying that statement is an illustrative case built on synthetic data.