2026年2月6日 / 美国东部时间下午5:38 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
《今日》节目联合主持人萨凡纳·古思里的母亲南希·古思里失踪一事中，出现了一条诱人线索：一份据称是勒索信的文件，要求以比特币支付赎金。
调查人员正严肃对待这封信，信中设定了周四下午5点的截止日期（未明确时区）。调查人员周四表示，如果未按时付款，信中还指定了下周一的第二个截止日期。
由于加密货币具有半匿名性，对比特币的赎金要求引发了人们对其是否可能被用来隐藏绑架者身份的质疑。专家告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，执法官员能够追踪到与加密货币交易背后的个人或组织相关的信息，这增加了在古思里案件中可能产生线索的机会。
所有比特币交易都会在公开区块链上记录和监控，这类似于银行分类账。进行交易时，用户还必须拥有一个包含用于授权转账的私钥和用于接收资金的公钥的比特币钱包地址。
帮助追踪加密货币欺诈和犯罪的TRM Labs全球政策负责人、曾在司法部和财政部调查金融犯罪的阿里·雷德博德（Ari Redbord）表示，这些信息（区块链交易和比特币钱包）可以为执法部门提供追踪不良行为者的起点。
雷德博德告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻：“每一笔比特币交易都会记录在公开分类账上，且不可篡改，意味着它会永久存在。我们能够追踪该地址的所有进出交易，以识别钱包地址的持有者。”
并非无法追踪
他指出，区块链分析可以调查该钱包是否曾用于非法活动，或该账户是否与勒索软件或其他网络犯罪有关。他们还可以检查哪些其他地址向相关钱包发送资金，然后构建地图以帮助追踪不良行为者的身份。
Chainalysis是一家开发区块链调查应用程序（包括追踪加密犯罪）的公司，其通信副总裁玛德琳·肯尼迪（Madeleine Kennedy）表示：“有一种普遍误解认为，包括比特币在内的加密货币是完全匿名且无法追踪的，但事实恰恰相反。”
雷德博德称，这意味着区块链可能能为调查人员提供比其他常被用于支付赎金的贵重物品（如艺术品、钻石甚至现金）更多的信息。
肯尼迪补充道：“我们的执法部门客户经常告诉我们，他们更愿意追踪加密货币中的资金，而非现金。”
“了解你的客户”法律能告诉你什么
专家表示，一旦比特币钱包的所有者前往如币安（Binance）或Coinbase等加密货币交易所兑现该加密货币，执法部门就能获取更多信息。美国的加密货币交易所受相同的“了解你的客户”（KYC）法律约束，这是反洗钱法规，要求金融机构收集客户信息。
Coinbase表示，这些数据包括客户的全名、出生日期和家庭住址，通常通过用户的政府身份证件收集。
雷德博德告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻：“执法部门可以向他们知道资金流向的加密货币交易所发出传票，要求‘我们需要了解该地址用户的更多信息——他们的姓名、生日、社会保险号、电话号码、用于创建账户的电子邮件’。”
他补充道：“真正能抓获他们的时机是当他们试图通过加密货币交易所转移资金时。”
专家称，一个问题是执法部门是否能在资金从加密货币交易所转出并消失之前迅速追踪到资金流向。罪犯还可能将加密货币转移到不遵守“了解你的客户”规定的非法交易所。
雷德博德表示：“挑战在于，不良行为者的行动速度比以往任何时候都快，在这类案件中，这实际上变成了与‘出口’（交易所）的赛跑。”
由阿兰·谢尔特（Alain Sherter）编辑
Purported ransom note for Savannah Guthrie’s mom demanded payment in bitcoin. Could it be tracked?
February 6, 2026 / 5:38 PM EST / CBS News
The disappearance of “Today” show co-hostSavannah Guthrie’s mother,Nancy Guthrie, includes a tantalizing clue: an apparent ransom note thatdemanded payment in bitcoin.
The note, which is being taken seriously by investigators, included a deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday, although it didn’t specify a time zone. If the payment wasn’t made, the note specified another deadline of Monday, investigators said Thursday.
The demand for bitcoin raises questions about whether the cryptocurrency could be used to hide a kidnapper’s identity, given the financial product’s semi-anonymous nature. Experts tell CBS News that law enforcement officials can track down information about the people or organizations behind crypto transactions, increasing the chances that the ransom demand could produce possible leads in the Guthrie case.
All bitcoin transactions are recorded and monitored on the public blockchain, which is similar to a bank ledger. To conduct a transaction, a user must also have a bitcoin wallet with an alphanumeric address, which stores private keys for authorizing transfers and public keys for receiving funds.
Those pieces of information — a blockchain transaction and a bitcoin wallet — can offer a starting point for law enforcement to track down a bad actor, said Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, which helps track crypto fraud and crimes, and a former Department of Justice and Treasury official who investigated financial crimes.
“Every transaction in bitcoin is logged on an open public ledger, and it’s immutable, meaning it’s there forever,” Redbord told CBS News. “We’re able to track and trace every transaction to and from that address in order to potentially identify the holder of the wallet address.”
Not untraceable
Blockchain analyses can examine whether that wallet has been used for illicit activity in the past, or if the account is associated with ransomware or other cybercrimes, he noted. They can also examine which other addresses are sending funds to the wallet in question, and then build out a map to help track the identity of the bad actor.
“It’s a common misconception that crypto, including bitcoin, is totally anonymous and untraceable, but it’s actually the exact opposite of that,” said Madeleine Kennedy, vice president of communications at Chainalysis, which makes apps and software for blockchain investigations, including tracking crypto crimes.
That means the blockchain may be able to provide more information to investigators than other valuables often used to pay ransoms, including art, diamonds or even cash, Redbord said.
“Our law enforcement customers regularly tell us they would much rather follow the money in crypto than in cash,” Kennedy added.
What “know your customer” laws can tell you
Once the owner of a bitcoin wallet goes to a crypto exchange — such as Binance or Coinbase — to cash out the cryptocurrency, law enforcement can gain even more information, experts said. Crypto exchanges in the U.S. are subject to the same “know your customer” laws, which are anti-money laundering regulations requiring a financial institution to collect customer information.
That data includes a customer’s full legal name, birth date and home address, which is usually collected through a user’s government ID,according to Coinbase.
“Law enforcement can send a subpoena to a cryptocurrency exchange where they know the funds went and say, ‘Hey, we need to know more about the user of this address — what is their name, what is their birthday, what is their Social Security number, their phone number, what email did they use to set up the account’,” Redbord told CBS News.
He added, “When you can really catch them is when they’re trying to move funds through a cryptocurrency exchange.”
One question is whether law enforcement will be able to act fast enough to trace the money before it’s transferred out of a crypto exchange and disappears, experts said. Criminals could also possibly transfer the crypto to an illicit exchange that doesn’t follow “know your customer” regulations.
“The challenge is that bad actors can move faster than ever, and it really becomes this race to the off-ramps in cases like this,” Redbord said.
Edited by Alain Sherter
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