When people picture what gets divided in a divorce, they think of the house, the pensions, maybe a business. In a growing number of the financial cases I support, some of the most valuable property in the marriage never appears on a single bank statement — it sits in a cryptocurrency wallet. I am Nick Puna, a McKenzie Friend and family law paralegal, and alongside that work I have spent six years immersed in blockchain and cryptocurrency. This article explains how crypto assets are traced, how they affect a financial settlement, and why that particular combination of skills matters.
A unique background: crypto, crypto forensics and family law
Most people working in family law are not technologists, and most people who understand blockchain have never sat with a separating couple trying to reach a fair settlement. I sit in the overlap. Six years working hands-on with cryptocurrency and blockchain taught me how wallets, exchanges and on-chain transactions actually behave — not in theory, but in the messy way they show up in real life. My family law practice taught me what a court needs, what the duty of disclosure demands, and how a settlement is actually built. Bringing those together means I can look at a financial case and see the digital assets that others might miss, and then explain them in plain language that a solicitor, a litigant in person or a judge can rely on.
Why crypto is so easy to hide — and why that is changing
Cryptocurrency was designed to move value without a bank in the middle. There is no branch, no monthly statement and no account manager to write to. A wallet is a string of characters rather than a name, holdings can be self-custodied on a phone or a small hardware device, and funds can cross borders in seconds. For a spouse who wants to keep money out of a settlement, that can look like the perfect hiding place.
It is not. Pseudonymous is not the same as anonymous, and it is certainly not the same as invisible. The defining feature of most cryptocurrencies is a public, permanent ledger: every transaction is recorded forever and can be read by anyone who knows how. Money almost always has to enter and leave the crypto world through a regulated exchange, and those on and off ramps leave a trail. The challenge is rarely that the information does not exist. It is knowing where to look and how to connect it.
How crypto assets are actually traced
My work moves inward, from the paper trail anyone can see to the on-chain detail few know how to read. In practice it runs through several stages.
The fiat trail. Bank and card statements are almost always the starting point. Large crypto holdings usually begin as ordinary money transferred into an exchange such as Coinbase, Kraken or Binance. Those transfers establish that crypto exists, when the buying started and roughly at what scale, even before a single wallet is identified.
Tax and financial records. HMRC self-assessment returns and capital-gains entries can reveal trading activity and disposals. Just as importantly, they can expose the gap between what someone has declared and the lifestyle they are living, which is often the first sign that the disclosure on the table is incomplete.
Device and document evidence. Wallet apps, exchange emails, backup phrases and hardware wallets all leave footprints. Where there is a proper basis for it, evidence from devices and correspondence can connect a person to specific accounts and addresses.
Blockchain analysis. This is the technical heart of the work. Because the ledger is public and permanent, a known wallet address can be followed through its entire transaction history. Addresses that appear separate can often be clustered together when their transaction patterns show they are controlled by the same person, linking pseudonymous accounts back to a real individual and revealing holdings that were never disclosed.
Exchange disclosure. Regulated exchanges hold identity records under anti-money-laundering rules. Where the court orders it, a UK-facing platform can be required to confirm account ownership, balances and transaction history, turning an on-chain suspicion into documented fact.
Valuation. Finally, holdings have to be valued at the relevant date, allowing for the volatility of individual coins and tokens. A figure that is right one week can be materially different the next, so the valuation has to be reasoned and clearly evidenced rather than plucked from a single screen.
Every step is documented so that it stands up as evidence rather than assertion. A finding is only useful in a financial remedy case if it can be explained and defended.
How it affects a financial remedy settlement
Since the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, English law treats cryptocurrency as personal property. In a divorce that makes it a matrimonial asset, divisible in the same way as any other. Both parties owe a duty of full and frank disclosure, and although the standard Form E has no dedicated box for cryptocurrency, that gap is no excuse for silence. Wallet addresses, quantities, platforms and valuations should all be disclosed.
The consequences of getting this wrong are real. Courts can draw adverse inferences against a party who fails to disclose, adjust the division of assets to reflect what was hidden, and make costs orders against the person who concealed. In Culligan v Culligan [2025] EWFC 1, around £371,000 of undisclosed cryptocurrency was uncovered part-way through proceedings using blockchain analysis, and the court applied exactly the same disclosure standards to it as to any other asset. Even where a settlement has already been reached, assets deliberately hidden at the time can allow a case to be reopened, following the principles in Sharland and Gohil.
Once identified and valued, crypto is dealt with much like other property: it can be transferred from one party to the other, sold and the proceeds divided, or offset against other assets so that one spouse keeps the crypto while the other takes a larger share of, say, the family home. The important thing is that it is on the schedule in the first place.
If you think crypto is being hidden
A few practical points. Try not to alert the other side before advice is taken, because digital assets can be moved quickly. Keep a note of anything you have genuinely seen — an exchange email, a wallet app on a shared device, a passing mention of a particular coin. Raise the issue properly through the disclosure process rather than acting on it yourself. And get the analysis started early: it is far better to have the picture clear before a final hearing than to try to unpick a settlement afterwards.
How I can help
I bring the technical side of cryptocurrency together with practical family law support, working alongside solicitors, litigants in person and other McKenzie Friends. If you suspect undisclosed digital assets, or you need your own holdings valued and disclosed properly, I can help you get the picture straight and set it out in a way the court can rely on. You can read more on my crypto forensic analysis page, or call 0330 133 0930 to talk it through.
About Nick Puna
Nick Puna is a McKenzie Friend and family law paralegal who supports separating couples, litigants in person and solicitors through divorce, financial remedy, child arrangements and consent orders. Alongside his family law work, he advises on wills and estate planning, helping clients put clear arrangements in place to protect their families and assets. He also brings six years of hands-on experience in blockchain and cryptocurrency, offering specialist crypto forensic analysis to trace, value and evidence digital assets in financial proceedings. It is this combination — family law, wills and estate planning, and crypto forensics — that lets Nick see the whole financial picture, including the digital assets that others often miss.
Leave a Reply