The case has gone cold. Law enforcement is as stumped as top asset recovery firms. This is a day in the life for Recoveris, the little detective agency for lost digital fortunes. The blockchain intelligence and digital asset recovery firm, based in Zug, was founded by Patrick Prinz, Roman Bieda, and Marcin Zarakowski last June. Its team consists of around 11 blockchain investigators, including one of the world’s leading experts in on-chain forensic analysts.

Although the agency was only launched last summer, the firm is already becoming the go-to name for financial cybercrime worldwide. Recoveris doesn’t just trace funds—it unravels complex, high-stakes mysteries that law enforcement and traditional recovery firms can’t decode. The firm then works closely with authorities to freeze stolen assets, trace their origin, and return them to victims.

The firm’s typical clients include crypto exchanges, DeFi projects, banks, insurance companies, law firms, and individuals.

Solving the Unsolvable

The cases the firm works on are manifold. A soon-to-be divorcee who suspects her ex-husband is digitally hiding assets, or a Middle Eastern company that has accidentally transferred money to the wrong wallet.

Just a few months ago, Recoveris helped trace the wallets used by the Russian secret service to hire young teenage spies via social media. The agency has also teamed up with East African governments to uncover how citizens are hiding wealth on-chain to bypass traditional financial systems.

As digital threats grow more sophisticated, the demand for Recoveris' services is also expanding beyond just thefts and scams. Increasingly, insurance companies are seeking the firm’s expertise to deal with more complex financial crimes, including ransomware and kidnapping.

However, Recoveris is now also helping compliance systems within banks track down the origins of new funds entering the institutions.

Bringing Light to a New Dark Net

Prinz calls finews.com from Singapore, where he has just spent the morning with Interpol, as part of a global public-private partnership that was initiated by Mastercard, the government of Abu Dhabi, and different law enforcement bodies. All are increasingly looking for ways to combat crimes involving digital assets, he says.

The 24/7 nature of blockchain and easy cross-border transfers have made it very prone to fraudulent activity, says Prinz. This includes money laundering, trafficking, and the like.

Criminals aren’t moving funds through traditional channels anymore, he says. «It's not a bank account anymore, it's a wallet. It's not a bank transfer, it's a token transfer. It's not an account name, it's a public key. So the game is changing, right?»

A Solution no Later Than One Week

However, even with cases with years of history and many different transaction paths, Recoveris says it cracks cases in 24 hours to a week at most. «We have cases that we solved overnight. Where we froze funds together with the US Secret Service for a victim overnight. So we work very closely with all of these entities: the FBI, Homeland Security, the IRS,» Prinz tells.

«When something happens, we quickly respond by analyzing, finding the funds, tracing them, and preparing a witness-quality report, so that it withstands court documentation that law enforcement can use,» says Prinz. «If you are hacked today or you are being scammed, where do you go? Go to the police? Good luck.» Now there is another option in Zug.