coinfomania.com
Leading cryptocurrency intelligence company CipherTrace has developed a tool that will enable the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to track illicit transactions involving Monero (XMR).
The cryptocurrency intelligence company made this known today in a press release stating that the newly developed forensic tool would help the security agency eliminate the difficulties associated with tracking XMR transactions.
According to CipherTrace, the tool has been integrated with its Inspector financial investigations product and equipped with several functions, including transaction search, exploration, and visualization tools of all Monero transactions.
The firm noted that the tracking tool would also help restore the trust exchanges had for Monero, by assuring them that transactions involving the XMR coin are not connected to fraudulent activities. Also, these exchanges can conveniently investigate all Monero-related transactions that may be linked to fraud.
Commenting on the development Dave Jevans, CEO of CipherTrace, said:
Our R&D team worked for a year on developing techniques for providing financial investigators with analysis tools [for Monero].
Monero’s use in illicit transactions
Since its inception, Monero (XMR) has been linked to being used by malefactors in conducting illicit transactions. According to widespread notion, the privacy coin is considered the second cryptocurrency after Bitcoin that criminals like to perpetrate these malicious activities.
This is because the coin was developed with certain functionalities that keep users’ transactions anonymous.
Monero’s Ring signature tool, which was earlier seen as a blessing in its early stages, is now regarded as a curse because it makes the process of identifying the source of a transaction difficult, especially when tracking suspicious exchanges involving the XMR coin.
Over the years, security agencies, including the DHS, have shown interest in developing tools that would ease the process of tracking illicit transactions involving Monero (XMR).
Meanwhile, Coinfomania reported that hackers illegally deployed the crypto-jacking mining protocol, XMRig, on more than 500,000 computers and stealing 8,900 Monero (XMR).
See Also: Wallet Addresses are not Enough to Hide Crypto Criminal Activities, says US Federal Agent