While cryptocurrency transactions are pseudonymous, they are recorded on a public ledger called blockchain which makes it easier to track fund flows. Over the past decade, law enforcement has become better at tracking illicit activity on blockchains.
But privacy wallets, of which there are several types, combine, mix and anonymise cryptocurrency transactions, making it complicated to follow a money trail.
“It makes it practically impossible to track funds, especially if you do a series of transactions through privacy wallets,” said Dr Tom Robinson, chief scientist at Elliptic. “This is a big challenge for law enforcement. It means they are probably at a dead end.”
Samtidig gjør fremveksten av second layer solutions at Bitcoin-transaksjoner i økende grad kan flyttes vekk fra den åpne blockchainen. Det er åpenbart av interesse for kriminelle. Se f.eks.:
Despite being pitched as a necessary “scaling solution,” Unbounded Capital has written extensively about how networks like the Lightning Network are primarily interested in removing Bitcoin’s inherent traceability and legal compliance, presumably to facilitate extralegal use cases ideologically popular amongst many in the crypto space.
Ifølge Elliptic var andelen av Bitcoin-transaksjoner linket til ulovlige aktiviteter under 1 % i 2020, men samtidig hevdes det innad i industrien at 95 % av Bitcoin-transaksjoner er fake. Isåfall er den reelle andelen transaksjoner linket til ulovlig aktivitet 20 ganger høyere.
Å peke på at transaksjoner er offentlige og dermed si at kriminalitet er et non-issue blir litt vel enkelt.
