FCIBT

Multiple-choice questions with a single best answer, delivered in the language of the exam. Some items are scenario-based and give you a short fact pattern - a transaction, a set of addresses, or an exchange relationship - and ask you to pick the most defensible conclusion. The awarding body publishes the current question count, time limit, and delivery method on its site.

Moderately demanding. The fundamentals questions are approachable for anyone who has used a block explorer, but the tracing and attribution items require you to reason about change outputs, peel chains, and clustering heuristics rather than recall definitions. Candidates who have only read about crypto tend to find the second half harder than expected.

Most candidates need several weeks of part-time study. Weight your time by domain: tracing and attribution together account for roughly a third of the exam, so they deserve the most hours. Fundamentals and typologies are broad but shallower. Finish with practice on real public-chain data, because reading alone does not build the pattern recognition the questions reward.

Start with blockchain fundamentals so transaction structure, UTXOs, and gas are not a distraction later. Then move to typologies so you know what conduct you are looking for. Study tracing and attribution next, as a pair. Finish with on/off-ramps, VASP due diligence, AML/CFT and sanctions, and evidence handling, which frame the technical work in a legal and compliance context.

Three recur. First, treating a cluster as proof of identity rather than as an investigative lead. Second, ignoring the change output and following the wrong branch. Third, knowing the technical trace but not the reporting obligation that follows it - who must be told, in what form, and by when. Careless reading of scenario stems also costs marks.

Retake policy and validity periods are set by the awarding body and are not fixed in this guide. Check the official site for the current retake window, any waiting period between attempts, fees, and whether you need continuing education to maintain the credential. Confirm these before you schedule, since they affect how you plan a second attempt.

You do not need a licence for any commercial platform, and questions are written so that a candidate with a free block explorer can answer them. What you do need is the underlying logic: how heuristics such as common-input-ownership and change detection work, where they produce false positives, and how an investigator should document a heuristic-based conclusion.

Enough that a purely technical candidate can lose marks. Expect questions on AML/CFT programme obligations, sanctions screening and designated addresses, and Travel Rule information-sharing between VASPs. You are not expected to recite statutes from memory, but you should understand what each framework requires an institution to do and when.

No. This is independent study material for candidates preparing for the FCIBT exam. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the awarding body, and it does not reproduce any official question bank. Always treat the awarding body's own handbook as authoritative for eligibility, registration, and exam-day rules.