Do you remember the mysterious transfer worth eight figures from the YGG treasury at the end of last year? The community instantly exploded, with some shouting 'the team is dumping' and others guessing it was a 'hacker attack'. Panic spread overnight. At that time, I thought to myself, rather than following the market's FUD, it would be better to find the answers on-chain myself, after all, data doesn't lie.
Seeing the truth through the fog of information isn't as esoteric as it seems. We just need to use two 'searchlights': first, use one tool to lock onto the 'target' of large abnormal movements, and then use another tool to trace the 'clues' of the funds. Finally, I'll talk about how to read the 'script' behind these clues.
The first spotlight, which I call the "Sentinel", has the core task of real-time alerts. There are quite a few tools of this kind on the market; personally, I often use Arkham. The specific operation is quite simple. The first step is to find and confirm the treasury address officially published by YGG; this step is crucial because if the address is wrong, everything that follows is futile. Once found, label it clearly in Arkham, such as "YGG Treasury". Then, set up the alerts; you can customize a threshold, such as "Notify me immediately when more than 500,000 YGG are transferred out of this address". This way, you have a robot monitoring the treasury 24/7, and no movement will escape your eyes. But be cautious; the alerts at this stage are just signals and do not represent any conclusions. Many times, it may just be an asset consolidation between the official multi-signature wallets or regular operational expenditures. Jumping to conclusions just because of an alert is a common mistake made by newcomers.
When the "Sentinel" sounds the alarm, it's time for the second spotlight—"Hound"—to take the stage. Its task is to deeply track and analyze. Upon receiving the alarm, don't panic; copy the counterparty address of that transaction, which is the clue we need to dig deeper. I will throw this address into Nansen or directly explore it on browsers like Etherscan. Do you remember the panic mentioned at the beginning of the article? When Arkham's alarm went off, I saw a huge amount transferred out, and my first reaction was also a moment of tension. But I didn't rush to conclusions; instead, I threw the counterparty address into Nansen. Minutes later, the clue became clear—the receiving address was marked by multiple institutions as the wallet of a well-known VC in the circle. Combined with the strategic partnership financing announcement released by YGG a few months ago, the answer became apparent: this was not a dump at all, but a payment of an investment that had long been planned. You see, from panic to truth, there was only a thin layer of on-chain data separating them. Of course, tracking is not always smooth sailing; we also encounter situations where funds enter mixers or exchange hot wallets, and the difficulty of tracking increases exponentially at those times, which is also a challenge of on-chain detective work.
By discovering signals through the "Sentinel" and tracking them down with the "Hound", we can get as close to the truth as possible. This ability transforms us from passive price receivers into active information verifiers. In the dark forest of Web3, where the authenticity of information is hard to discern, having the ability to independently verify information is far more important than blindly trusting any influencer's calls. This is not just about YGG; it is a core survival skill for protecting our assets in the crypto world.
Every address on the chain may hide a story. Besides YGG, what interesting addresses have you tracked using these tools, or what unknown secrets have you discovered? Share your "detective" experiences in the comments.
Disclaimer: This article is solely for personal research sharing and does not constitute any investment advice. All content is based on publicly available market information, and readers are encouraged to conduct their own in-depth research and judgment. DYOR.
