The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will pay out up to $625,000 for anyone who can crack Monero, one of the most popular privacy coins.....
Unlike popular crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, where addresses can be traced back to wallets and crypto exchanges to reveal the user’s identity, Monero operates in near complete darkness.
It does so by using three different privacy technologies (namely ring signatures, ring confidential transactions and stealth addresses) that hide the sender, amount, and receiver in the transaction.
It’s no wonder that most regulated crypto exchanges refuse to list privacy coins.
With the lack of traceability and transparency, many fear that privacy coins could become more and more popular as a vehicle for illicit activities around the world.
For example, recent reports indicate that North Korea, in an effort to circumvent international sanctions, has boosted its Monero mining operations at least tenfold since May 2019.
Whilst chain-tracking firms have long worked with government agencies to unearth criminal activity on popular crypto networks like Bitcoin or Ethereum, even they’re having a tough time unlocking Monero’s privacy mechanisms.
So the IRS is now turning to private contractors and individuals for help, hoping that someone out there can develop a tool that will provide identifying information for Monero wallet users.
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