CipherTrace can now reportedly enable its customers to trace most cryptocurrency transactions with a new technology. According to a press release made available to BSN:
“[…] [I]n addition to Bitcoin (BTC), CipherTrace customers can now trace more than 700 tokens. Combined, that comprises more than 87 percent of the volume of the top 100 cryptocurrencies*, including Ethereum (ETH), Tether, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC). CipherTrace’s increased monitoring support further includes the capability to trace several hundred ERC20 tokens.”
Tracking Crypto Users As A Service
Companies like CipherTrace and Chainalysis are in the business of providing information about blockchain transactions. Businesses such as exchanges rely on the data to ensure they’re not dealing with illicit trading partners, or allowing deposits from addresses that have made it onto a list maintained by the government.
Just because the companies are capable doesn’t mean governments are willing to use them for every little thing.
Typically, the services of a company like CipherTrace are employed in the course of another type of investigation, where authorities already have an ongoing list of people they’re looking at.
It’s not like you send a crypto transaction and then suddenly you’re on a list.
Instead, to get under the watch of the government, you’d have to do something particularly noticeable, and something they’re already looking for, to boot. That’s when companies like CipherTrace come in, and provide the tools said government agencies might need to track you.
CipherTrace CEO Shannon Holland said it’s taken the company a lot of effort to get their technology up and running.
“It has taken intense work and technological breakthroughs over the last four years, as well as collaboration with regulators and financial investigators. We can now discern and automatically verify previously unfathomable amounts of blockchain data and characterize it with a high level of confidence. We will continue to add more tokens, stablecoins, and blockchains in the coming months.”
Forget About Privacy In Crypto?
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are pseudonymous in nature, meaning that for the human eye it can be difficult to track funds beyond one or two transactions.
However, software that’s trained to follow money can see where it goes for an indeterminate length of time.
Government agencies, untrained in the ways of blockchain, use services like CipherTrace both to make the task easier and for their expertise in the subject area.
CipherTrace now supports tracking on around 700 cryptocurrencies, including all of the ones that most people use like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash.
The company’s software now offers support for Ethereum smart contracts as well, providing in-depth intelligence on tokens and their holders for people who might otherwise be considered blockchain novices.
