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The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants to know if it is possible to track transactions conducted using private currencies.
A new pre-solicitation document published by the DHS Small Business Innovation Research Program discusses the use of cryptocurrencies as bitcoins for transactions. While the paper notes that there are commercial and governmental uses for cryptography, the topic focuses particularly on finding a method for conducting forensic analyzes on coins that focus on privacy if they are used for criminal activities.
In the paper, DHS points out that platforms such as zcash and monero emphasize privacy and anonymity as key features, making it difficult to determine where a transaction is coming from or how much is sent.
"Even if these characteristics are desirable, there is likewise an irresistible interest in tracing and understanding illegal transactions and actions on the blockchain", it says.
From the document:
"This proposal requires solutions that allow law enforcement investigations to perform forensic analysis on blockchain transactions.This analysis can be addressed in various ways and may consider cases of using different data situations depending on whether additional data are available from out-of-chain sources. "
While the document mentions zcash and monero as two examples of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, it also notes that it is possible to develop new platforms with similar characteristics. As such, any proposed solution should be applicable more generally or "provide work approaches to deal with new blockchain implementations".
The file outlines three phases that such a proposal will follow.
The document notes that this is neither a solicitation nor a request for proposals, which means that the agency is not looking for specific solutions at this time. Rather, interested parties can contact the authors of subjects until December 18 to provide a comment or ask technical questions. Actual solicitation should be issued around December 19th.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read the full document below:
FY 19 SBIR Pre-Solicitation … by Scribd
Image of Department of Homeland Security via g0d4ather / Shutterstock
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