Ciphertrace supposedly builds Monero tracking tools, XMR supporters disagree

Blockchain surveillance firm Ciphertrace claims to have created the “first” monero tracking tools for law enforcement. According to the company’s announcement, Ciphertrace has developed forensic tools for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in order to monitor illicit monetary transactions. Despite the company’s claims, there is no evidence provided that the company actually has such tools.

Since the open source cryptocurrency was first invoked in 2014, the Monero (XMR) project has been heralded for privacy-focused techniques. The digital asset network uses enforced privacy for all transactions by leveraging concepts such as ring signatures, bulletproof signatures, and invisible (one-time) addresses.

Due to the privacy-focused improvements, the XMR digital currency has gained notoriety in the darknet markets (DNM), as monero accounts for a large share of DNM transactions.

However, Ciphertrace, a blockchain intelligence firm working with global law enforcement and regulators, claims it has a tool that can “track and visualize Monero transaction flows.”

“Ciphertrace has developed tools to explore Monero transactions to assist in the investigation,” the company explained in a press release dated Aug. 31. “These tools include search, exploration and transaction visualization tools for Monero transaction flows that have been integrated with the CipherTrace Product Inspector’s financial investigations. This provides ways to track stolen Monero currencies or Monero currencies used in transactions. illegal “.

Ciphertrace notes that Monero is represented in 45% of all DNMs and calls it the “second-favorite cryptocurrency among criminals”. Dave Jevans, CEO of Ciphertrace, says that while people think it’s next to impossible to identify true sources, the company has been working for a year studying the Monero network.

Jevans reveals that the company has created tools for law enforcement to help uncover illegal monetary transactions, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

“Monero (XMR) is one of the most privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies,” Jevans pointed out. “Our research and development team worked for a year developing techniques to provide financial investigators with analytical tools. There is still a lot of work to be done, but Ciphertrace is proud to announce the world’s first Monero tracking feature. We are grateful for the support of the Department of Homeland Security Directorate of Science and Technology on this project. “

However, the press release provided by Ciphertace published on August 31, 2020, does not provide any evidence of any monero tracking tools. The ad is simply a claim that the company has such tools, but there are very few reasons given in the ad to believe it.

Despite the announcement, members of the crypto-community have a hard time believing that Ciphertrace actually has an understanding for tracking XMR transactions. “It is extremely unlikely that Ciphertrace will be able to track Monero to any extent that it can track any other currency,” Justin Ehrenhofer he wrote on Twitter.

Monero proponent and IT security engineer, Seth Simmons, he also did not believe Ciphertrace’s latest announcement.

“There’s no reason to think there’s anything new going on here until proven otherwise,” Simmons tweeted. “The most likely answer is that they are using methods developed * by the Monero community to improve Monero * to de-anonymize some specific transactions with external data. The Monero community has long been at the forefront of privacy research in an effort to build more tools. strong, as evidenced by the “Breaking Monero” series. “

Simmons continued with a fierce criticism of the statements of Ciphertrace’s alleged tracking tool in the press release and points out that there are “numerous errors in understanding Monero in the article.”

“Without details, there is really nothing to discuss. Some vague information provided by Ciphertrace in this article is not possible without external data (such as KYC information from the exchanges), ”the monero advocate said.

What do you think of the alleged tools Ciphertrace claims to have against Monero’s transaction privacy? Let us know in the comments section below.

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