States increasingly pursue their geopolitical objectives through non-military means — including front companies, sanctions-busting supply chains, proxy networks, and covert financing. Cryptocurrency has become a critical enabler of this architecture: state-backed actors are now building and exploiting financial and crypto platforms specifically designed to circumvent sanctions regimes, funnelling illicit virtual asset flows through jurisdictions that lack the tools to detect them. Exposing these networks requires investigators to follow the trail across corporate registries, procurement platforms, and shipping records. In this hands-on workshop, C4ADS will demonstrate methodologies to investigate crypto-enabled sanctions evasion and expose beneficial ownership structures, map shell company networks, and identify the operational chokepoints that make these schemes possible. Participants will work through a structured exercise using the same approach, drawing on Horizons, C4ADS’ investigative platform aggregating 2.4 billion safe, searchable records, and leave with a practical framework for conducting their own investigations.
