November 23, 2020 | AtoZ Markets – The days of Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency designed in April 2014 for anonymous and untraceable transactions are numbered as CipherTrace has filed patents to decipher the coin.
CipherTrace files 2 Monero tracing patents
Analyst firm CipherTrace has announced the filing of two patents for technology aimed at tracking transactions on the Monero anonymous cryptocurrency network.
CipherTrace Files Two Monero Cryptocurrency Tracing Patents https://t.co/URmue0VT2n CipherTrace has filed their second Monero tracing patent application— Techniques and Probabilistic Methods for Tracing Monero #Monero #XMR #privacycoin
— CipherTrace (@ciphertrace) November 21, 2020
The first patent was named "Techniques and probabilistic methods for tracking Monero", the second - "Systems and methods for analyzing Monero".
These include Monero network transaction flow research tools to assist in the financial crime investigation process, statistical and probabilistic methods for categorizing transactions and grouping likely wallet owners, as well as visualization tools and ways to track coins stolen or used for criminal purposes.
“Our goal is to provide the ability to identify users involved in criminal activity, and thereby increase the security and resilience of private coins like Monero in the future,” the message says.
The company added that it has been developing such tools since early 2019 as part of a project being implemented by the US Department of Homeland Security.
Recall that the CipherTrace company presented a tool for tracking transactions on the Monero network in August this year.
Crypto exchanges delist privacy coins
As AtoZ Markets reported, Estonia-based crypto exchange BitBay has delisted Monero in order to prevent money laundering.
Upbit, OKex, and several other crypto exchanges have also delisted various privacy-centric digital coins. The exchanges began to delist these coins after the FATF issued its guidelines for crypto exchanges. However, several privacy coin developers have claimed that these coins are perfectly capable of complying with FATF guidelines.
Privacy coins are unstoppable
However, according to a study conducted by Copenhagen Business School on private cryptocurrencies, banning privacy coins will likely be a losing battle for regulators. The research found that regulators are unlikely to succeed in halting privacy coins anytime soon due to the tokens’ privacy-preserving, decentralized nature.
Highlighting the difficulties regulators are likely to face in halting privacy coins, Copenhagen Business School researcher Rob Gleasure said:
“If decentralized privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies become popular in the future, to the point they can be routinely exchanged without users having to convert to other currencies and systems, there is no obvious way for regulators to impose post-hoc regulation.”
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