Blockchain Intelligence and Virtual Asset Regulation: on-chain traceability, VASPs and consumer protection in comparative perspective with the Clarity Act

Abstract

This paper examines Blockchain Intelligence as an instrument for compliance, consumer protection and investigations under Brazil’s new virtual-asset regulatory framework. It aims to assess how traceability on public blockchains may assist virtual asset service providers without turning analytical inferences into automatic assumptions of identity or liability. The study adopts a qualitative, exploratory, doctrinal and comparative method, analyzing Brazilian Law No. 14,478/2022, Banco Central do Brasil regulations, FATF standards and the legislative development of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in the United States. The findings indicate that the institutionalization of regulated virtual asset service providers increases the relevance of controls capable of integrating customer data, transaction monitoring and on-chain information, particularly for anti-money laundering, fraud prevention, custody and incident response. It concludes that Blockchain Intelligence may strengthen transparency and investigative capacity when supported by technical validation, methodological documentation, lawful correlation with external data and explicit classification
of the degree of certainty of analytical inferences. Finally, a five-stage model is proposed for preservation, verification,
analysis, correlation and evidence classification.