IRS announces bounty for defeating Monero privacy

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will pay a contractor $625,000 to help track transactions in the Monero cryptocurrency network, bypassing technologies that protect user anonymity.

IRS proposal also applies to other privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.

The agency is open to collaboration with one or more contractors. Applications are due by September 16.

The IRS is interested in specialized tools that will enable obtaining the date and time of a transaction, the amount, and other wallet information from the Monero network.

CipherTrace developed a tool for tracking Monero transactions for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Not everyone in the community believed such technology existed, but Monero developers introduced the Triptych algorithm to protect anonymity.

In July it emerged that the IRS is seeking tools to analyze blockchains of Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), Grin (GRIN), Komodo (KMD), Verge (XVG) and Horizon (ZEN).

In the same month the agency signed a contract with the Coinbase exchange to use blockchain analytics tools to track transactions. The contract was valued at $124,950.

Interest in the capabilities of Coinbase Analytics was also shown by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — full news feed, ForkLog — the most important news and polls.