We are beginning to see the use of anonymous altcoins in practice. In this case it is the use of Monero as an escape passage to go around bitcoin's traceable blockchain to hide transactions by criminals.
Is this the future of the cryptospace? Will privacy and anonymous transactions become major selling points?
A new blockchain in the mix
In context, the fact that the coins are moving at all is something of a shock.
As early as May, it was widely felt the hackers would be unlikely to move the bitcoins for a long time, if at all, as it would be difficult to cash out on major exchanges that monitor stolen funds to meet regulatory standards.
Again, there's also the open nature of bitcoin's blockchain. Those interested in watching the coins move were gifted an easy task, as the WannaCry hackers used only three addresses to collect the ransoms.
But, in an evolving blockchain sector that seems to continue to find new ways to surprise, it could be other blockchains that end up closing the dramatic story.
Of the total funds, $36,000 in bitcoin has now moved through Switzerland-based cryptocurrency startup Shapeshift and into the open-source, privacy-oriented cryptocurrency, monero.
And the switch to the monero blockchain could make things complicated, since it uses several different means to obscure the identity of its users.
Created in 2014, monero is best known for its innovative use of "ring signatures," which are utilized to mix user public keys and account keys, creating a "ring" of possible signers so outside observers can’t link a signature to a specific user.
The cryptocurrency protocol also uses "stealth addresses," which allow the recipient to publish a single address, but the coins are sent to a separate, unique addresses.Read the full article https://www.coindesk.com/wannacry-move-bitcoin-theft-evolves-multi-blockchain-world/This is not the first time a technology is being used in wrong practices. Take for example internet. How useful it is but at the same time we have dark web full of illegal activities. But we tend to ignore that and so does the government. Regarding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, it is indeed easy to escape law enforcement agencies and thus has a dark side. But we shouldn't forget its usefulness in terms of security and decentralisation. It is not the first time a currency is being used in illegal practices. Nothing is more anonymous than cash.
