CONSENSUS: Consensus-based Systematic Evidence Synthesis for Forensic Risk Profiling of Cryptocurrency Mixers

Global financial integrity is fundamentally challenged by cryptocurrency mixers such as Tornado Cash, which facilitate billions in illicit fund flows. Low detection rates, reliance on labeled training data that is unavailable for novel attacks, and failure to analyze temporal coordination patterns are all impediments to the effectiveness of existing forensic tools. We introduce CONSENSUS, a self-supervised heterogeneous ensemble framework that addresses the challenge of attribution in mixed transaction streams. Our system requires no pre-existing labels, and it generates supervision signals directly from on-chain behavioral patterns. It synthesizes evidence by orchestrating nine analytical modalities—including deterministic clustering, behavioral analysis, and multiple graph neural network architectures—through a formal consensus mechanism. This multi-modal approach produces transparent, auditable risk scores from a 111-dimensional behavioral fingerprint. We validated the framework on five major decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits, including the Ronin Bridge and Poly Network hacks. Using raw transaction data, it detected all known primary attackers at 100% accuracy without training. Crucially, the framework's self-supervised components successfully identified the novel attack pattern of the Poly Network exploit, thereby demonstrating robustness to out-of-distribution threats that defeat supervised methods. By providing a transparent, zero-label solution, CONSENSUS establishes a new paradigm for flexible, effective risk profiling and forensic investigation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Distributed Ledger Technologies Research and Practice
Published
2026-03-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1145/3800585
Primary Topic
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

CONSENSUS: Consensus-based Systematic Evidence Synthesis for Forensic Risk Profiling of Cryptocurrency Mixers

Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy, Babu Pillai, Aravinda S. Rao, Marimuthu Palaniswami
Distributed Ledger Technologies Research and Practice
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
article

CONSENSUS: Consensus-based Systematic Evidence Synthesis for Forensic Risk Profiling of Cryptocurrency Mixers

Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy, Babu Pillai, Aravinda S. Rao, Marimuthu Palaniswami
article en

Abstract

Global financial integrity is fundamentally challenged by cryptocurrency mixers such as Tornado Cash, which facilitate billions in illicit fund flows. Low detection rates, reliance on labeled training data that is unavailable for novel attacks, and failure to analyze temporal coordination patterns are all impediments to the effectiveness of existing forensic tools. We introduce CONSENSUS, a self-supervised heterogeneous ensemble framework that addresses the challenge of attribution in mixed transaction streams. Our system requires no pre-existing labels, and it generates supervision signals directly from on-chain behavioral patterns. It synthesizes evidence by orchestrating nine analytical modalities—including deterministic clustering, behavioral analysis, and multiple graph neural network architectures—through a formal consensus mechanism. This multi-modal approach produces transparent, auditable risk scores from a 111-dimensional behavioral fingerprint. We validated the framework on five major decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits, including the Ronin Bridge and Poly Network hacks. Using raw transaction data, it detected all known primary attackers at 100% accuracy without training. Crucially, the framework's self-supervised components successfully identified the novel attack pattern of the Poly Network exploit, thereby demonstrating robustness to out-of-distribution threats that defeat supervised methods. By providing a transparent, zero-label solution, CONSENSUS establishes a new paradigm for flexible, effective risk profiling and forensic investigation.

Distributed Ledger Technologies Research and Practice
Griffith University (AU), The University of Melbourne (AU)
Openalex Percentile: Top 54%
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
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