Combating Fraud in Crypto in 2025

When Tommy Nicholas (CEO of Alloy) wrote a blog titled, Your Fraud Model Is Broken, you had to know he and Ian Andrews (CMO, Chainalysis) were going to have a fun and insightful conversation.

This episode was originally published on December 5, 2023, where Tommy discussed how early NFTs and Bitcoin transaction speeds got him interested in the space and years later his company Alloy is now servicing Fintechs, Crypto and TradFi companies managing their compliance, AML, credit, and fraud risk.

He explains the broken fraud model and the need for a shift in approach to focus on the person rather than just the transaction. He emphasizes the importance of transparency and accountability by regulators in the industry and the burdensome requirements placed on the private sector.

To share insights since the episode was published last year, we added fresh commentary from Rich Scioli, Alloy's General Manager of Global Fintech. Rich brings us up to speed on the latest in fraud prevention, crypto security, and gives us the real story behind the rise and fall of embedded finance.

Minute-by-minute episode breakdown

• (2:10) - Alloy's role in managing wide variety of risks for companies dealing with money
• (5:08) - Alloy as an operating system for risk management instead of just another risk solution 
• (7:23) - The frustration behind the blog "Your Fraud Model is Broken"
• (14:33) - The burden and costs of money laundering controls on the private sector
• (18:27) - The inefficiency of processing suspicious activity reports
• (19:50) - Updated: The State of Embedded Finance Report Key Takeaways 
• (22:56) - Threat actors taking advantage of online onboarding
• (30:03) - How Alloy got into the crypto industry and fraudulent practices they have identified
• (32:15) - Updated: The evolution of fraud going into 2025 and beyond 
• (33:13) - Involvement in the NFT community and the potential of digital collectibles
• (36:45) - Updated: Cross border payments, stablecoins and everything in between
• (42:00) - International look at fraud and compliance for the fintech / crypto industry 
• (47:00) - Updated: What to look out for from Alloy and the crypto industry 

Related resources

Check out more resources provided by Chainalysis that perfectly complement this episode of the Public Key.

• Website:  Stop fraud, stay compliant, and solve your identity risk problem
• Report: Alloy's Annual State of Compliance Benchmark Report 2023
• Article: Your fraud model is broken
• Blog: Banks have a friction challenge
• Report: 2024 State of Embedded Finance Report
• Report: The 2024 Crypto Maturity Journey: How Traditional Finance Can Adopt Cryptocurrency in Stages
• Blog: Growth Opportunities: Stablecoins, TradFi Engagement, and Tokenization Lead Web3’s Next Wave
• YouTube: Chainalysis YouTube page
• Twitter: Chainalysis Twitter: Building trust in blockchain
• Tik Tok: Building trust in #blockchains among people, businesses, and governments.
• Telegram: Chainalysis on Telegram 

Speakers on today’s episode

• Ian Andrews * Host * (Chief Marketing Officer, Chainalysis) 
• Tommy Nicholas  (CEO, Alloy)
• Rich Scioli (General Manager of Global Fintech, Alloy)

This website may contain links to third-party sites that are not under the control of Chainalysis, Inc. or its affiliates (collectively “Chainalysis”). Access to such information does not imply association with, endorsement of, approval of, or recommendation by Chainalysis of the site or its operators, and Chainalysis is not responsible for the products, services, or other content hosted therein.

Our podcasts are for informational purposes only, and are not intended to provide legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. Listeners should consult their own advisors before making these types of decisions. Chainalysis has no responsibility or liability for any decision made or any other acts or omissions in connection with your use of this material.

Chainalysis does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of the information in any particular podcast and will not be responsible for any claim attributable to errors, omissions, or other inaccuracies of any part of such material. 

Unless stated otherwise, reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Chainalysis. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by Chainalysis employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the views of the company.