Merkle Science Welcomes Jussi Aittola as Senior Director of Law Enforcement Relationships

We are excited to announce that Jussi Aittola, who has close to ten years of experience in law enforcement, investigations, intelligence, and blockchain analytics, has joined Merkle Science as its Senior Director of Law Enforcement Relationships. Aittola also has extensive domain expertise: He has more than fourteen years experience in cryptocurrencies and various blockchains.

Based out of Merkle Science’s Singapore office, Aittola will focus on two strategic areas: Asia Pacific (APAC) and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Both of these regions are seeing rapid adoption of digital assets, along with increasingly progressive regulatory environments. To keep the business environment safe for both consumers and organizations, law enforcement will need best-in-class blockchain analytics tools like Merkle Science’s Tracker. 

Aittola has the necessary expertise to build strong relationships with law enforcement agencies in APAC and EMEA. He began his law enforcement career at Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, Financial Intelligence Unit, Criminal intelligence. As an inspector, he focused on criminal investigations involving cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, and financial technology.

After serving the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, Aittola moved to Singapore in 2020, first working shortly at Cyber Intelligence House, a cyber intelligence company headquartered out of Singapore. This was already his second time living and working in APAC.

In July 2020, Aittola transitioned back into purely blockchain analytics. He was hired as a senior investigator at Chainalysis, where he was eventually promoted to manager and then to the head of investigations of APAC. Just before joining Merkle Science, Aittola built and led CipherBlade’s APAC function as the Chief Executive Officer of APAC. 

With a background in both law enforcement and blockchain analytics, Aittola has the unique skillset needed to cultivate relationships with law enforcement and the public sector across APAC and EMEA. He is eager to take this challenge head-on.

“The continuing emergence of digital assets in APAC and EMEA is a double-edged sword: As adoption grows, so, too, does crypto crime. In this environment, it is imperative that we work closely with law enforcement and the public sector. We must give them the tools and skill sets they need to prevent crypto crime, track the movement of illicit funds, and bring criminals to justice with compelling evidence,” said Aittola.

Mriganka Pattnaik, Merkle Science's co-founder and CEO, is proud to have Aittola leading Merkle Science’s relationships with law enforcement in APAC and EMEA.

“Aittola already has a deep understanding of these markets, along with relationships with law enforcement agencies from his time on-the-ground. Under his leadership, Merkle Science will strengthen our partnerships with law enforcement, so that they can maximize our tools and ultimately create a safer crypto environment for all stakeholders,” said Pattnaik.

Merkle Science has a suite of tools in blockchain analytics, the most relevant of which is Tracker for law enforcement. With Tracker, law enforcement agencies can implement blocklists and behavior-based rules to continuously monitor wallets in real-time, flag suspicious activity into different risk profiles, and visualize the flow of illicit funds.

We are confident that Aittola will be a great ambassador for both Merkle Science in general and Tracker in particular to law enforcement in need of both domain expertise and cutting-edge solutions.