Hong Kong police tease crypto tracing tool to tackle online crime

Hong Kong police are ramping up efforts to secure the city’s web3 space with a new tool to help track illegal crypto flows.

Hong Kong’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau revaled on Wednesday its newly developed crypto tracing tool dubbed CryptoTrace, as part of its efforts to combat growing crypto-related crime .

The tool, jointly developed with the University of Hong Kong and was first announced at the Blockchain Security Summit 2025, is designed to provide “advanced intelligence and investigative support” to officers handling virtual asset cases, CSTCB said. The bureau added it had already held training sessions in late March to improve frontline officers’ ability to investigate crypto crimes using the system.

In addition to its crime-fighting goals, CSTCB said it is working closely with stakeholders across the web3 sector to “co-build a safer and more sustainable ecosystem,” without going into details.

The University of Hong Kong, which co-developed the tool, claims that CryptoTrace uses “cutting-edge blockchain analytics, graph and visualisation technologies” to help investigators trace laundered funds, identify suspect locations, and “streamline probes into scams involving cryptocurrencies.”

The initiative comes as crypto crime continues to rise in Hong Kong. In October 2024, police announced the arrest of 27 suspects in a deepfake-driven romance scam targeting victims across Asia. The group allegedly used AI-generated video calls and a fake crypto platform to defraud victims of over $46 million worth of crypto.

A  study  led by University of Texas finance professor John Griffin revealed that romance scams caused over $75 billion in losses from January 2020 to February 2024, with many of the scammers  operating out of Southeast Asia .