Chainalysis Authentication

generated: '2026-08-27'
method: probed
source: >-
  live unauthenticated + bad-credential probes of public.chainalysis.com and
  api.chainalysis.com, plus https://www.chainalysis.com/llms.txt
description: >-
  Authentication profile for the Chainalysis API surface, established by probing the live
  hosts rather than from a specification - Chainalysis publishes no anonymous OpenAPI
  (developers.chainalysis.com/openapi.json returns HTTP 401). Every Chainalysis API is
  API-key authenticated via a request header. No OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect or mutual-TLS
  surface was found on any host, so no scopes/ artifact is emitted.
schemes:
  - id: sanctions_api_key
    type: apiKey
    in: header
    name: X-API-Key
    applies_to:
      - api: chainalysis:sanctions-screening
        base: https://public.chainalysis.com/api/v1
    registration: >-
      Free. Requested from the public sanctions screening product page; no commercial
      contract is required.
    registration_url: https://www.chainalysis.com/product/address-screening/
    evidence:
      - description: Request with NO credential
        url: https://public.chainalysis.com/api/v1/address/{address}
        http_status: 403
        body: WAF/Cloudflare HTML interstitial
      - description: Request with a well-formed but invalid UUID key in X-API-Key
        url: https://public.chainalysis.com/api/v1/address/{address}
        http_status: 401
        body: '{ "message":"Invalid API Key" }'
        note: >-
          The 401 with a JSON body proves X-API-Key is the credential header the service
          actually reads - an unauthenticated request never reaches the application.
  - id: kyt_token
    type: apiKey
    in: header
    name: Token
    applies_to:
      - api: chainalysis:kyt-api
        base: https://api.chainalysis.com/api/kyt/v2
    registration: Enterprise contract; key issued in the KYT console at kyt.chainalysis.com.
    confidence: medium
    evidence:
      - description: Unauthenticated request to a live KYT operation
        url: https://api.chainalysis.com/api/kyt/v2/users
        http_status: 403
        body: >-
          {"timestamp":"...","status":403,"error":"Forbidden","path":"/api/kyt/v2/users"}
    note: >-
      The header NAME could not be confirmed anonymously - the KYT reference is behind the
      customer login. The path is confirmed live: it returns a structured application-level
      403 rather than the host's 410 catch-all. Header name recorded at medium confidence
      and should be upgraded from an authenticated docs read.
  - id: risk_token
    type: apiKey
    in: header
    name: Token
    applies_to:
      - api: chainalysis:address-screening
        base: https://api.chainalysis.com/api/risk/v2
    registration: Enterprise contract.
    confidence: medium
    evidence:
      - description: Unauthenticated request to a live Address Screening operation
        url: https://api.chainalysis.com/api/risk/v2/entities
        http_status: 403
        body: >-
          {"timestamp":"...","path":"/api/risk/v2/entities","status":403,"error":"Forbidden",
          "requestId":"497459b3","message":"Invalid token"}
        note: >-
          The application's own message is literally "Invalid token", which is direct
          evidence that the credential is a bearer-style token supplied per request.
not_found:
  oauth2: >-
    No oauth2 securityScheme, no /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server (404 on
    www.chainalysis.com; SPA shell on reactor.chainalysis.com), no documented authorization
    or token endpoint. scopes/ is deliberately NOT emitted.
  openid_connect: >-
    No /.well-known/openid-configuration served on any host (404 / SPA shell).
  mutual_tls: Not documented and not offered on any probed host.
docs: https://developers.chainalysis.com/
docs_status: 401
docs_note: >-
  The Chainalysis developer portal is entirely behind a customer login. Every content path
  returns the literal body "User is not logged in" and /openapi.json returns
  {"error":"Unauthorized"}. The auth model above is therefore probed, not read.