Monero is no longer a privacy coin? Crypto analysis company applies for patent to track Monero transactions
Last Friday, CipherTrace, a cryptographic analysis company, announced that it has applied for two patents on the technology to track transactions in the privacy currency Monero.
On November 20th, CipherTrace stated in its blog that one of the patents is a forensics tool that can be used to explore Monero (XMR) transaction inflows to assist in financial investigations and use statistical and probabilistic methods to settle transactions and gather possible wallet owners. A patent is a visualization tool and method used to track XMR that has been stolen or used illegally.
“CipherTrace’s Monero tracking capabilities will allow virtual asset service providers to identify when the incoming XMR may have a source of crime, allowing them to perform appropriate risk assessments on customer transactions in accordance with any necessary regulations,” the blog wrote, “our goal It is able to detect criminal users, thereby improving the security and sustainability of privacy coins such as Monero.”
Although Bitcoin (BTC) is still the preferred trading medium for many darknet market users, privacy coins like XMR have been accepted by more and more people. Law enforcement agencies have not yet determined a reliable way to track Monero, and companies like CipherTrace are likely to do so, and it is reported that the company has been studying ways to track XMR transactions since the beginning of 2019.
In August of this year, CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans told Cointelegraph that the company developed the first tool to track Monero transactions. This tool can potentially support criminal investigations and reduce money laundering incidents.
The company said that the development of these tools to track Monero is part of a project with the US Department of Homeland Security, but the US Department of Homeland Security is not the only government agency seeking to identify XMR wallets, transaction dates and times. In September of this year, the US Internal Revenue Service announced that it would provide up to $625,000 in bonuses to anyone who can crack Monero transactions.
The functionality of the CipherTrace tracking tool has not been confirmed. A Monero outreach representative told Cointelegraph in October that they are “highly skeptical of any claim that the company can track Monero transactions,” and any company doing so is unlikely to “track the wallet or amount of any transaction.”
