US Government Agencies Up Blockchain Analysis Contracts

[gentlemand]

https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1044273666236837893

https://diar.co/volume-2-issue-38/

Scroll down to the second article. Some interesting reading about the stats of US government spending on blockchain analysis.

Unsurprisingly the IRS is number one. The second is US customs and immigration. I wonder what the angle is there.

Here's the countdown in full in USD expenditure.

IRS   2,191,835   
ICE   1,537,945   
FBI   1,142,671   
Fiscal Service   330,552   
DEA   215,333   
SEC   184,480   
CFTC 117,372

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[avikz]

Lol! The preying eyes of regulators are everywhere and it seems like they are taking the help from big data analytics to understand the possible misuse of cryptos. The article says,

US government agencies have upped the need for expertise from blockchain analytic firms to assist them in honing down on potential tax evasion, money laundering, terrorist financing, drug dark markets, among the other illicit activities.

Now here I understand the role of IRS and other regulatory bodies, but what US customs and immigration doing? Trump has already killed the immigration scenario and fueled the battle on international trade, what else they are looking for?? People carrying bitcoin or not??

[gentlemand]

but what US customs and immigration doing? Trump has already killed the immigration scenario and fueled the battle on international trade, what else they are looking for?? People carrying bitcoin or not??

The guy in the Twitter feed theorises that it's related to remittances, people trafficking and unlicensed money transmitting. I guess that makes sense but it still seems more the remit of other agencies.

What it doesn't tell you is how many actual searches are being made. It could a tiny amount or a hair raising amount.

[Harlot]

The guy in the Twitter feed theorises that it's related to remittances, people trafficking and unlicensed money transmitting. I guess that makes sense but it still seems more the remit of other agencies.

What it doesn't tell you is how many actual searches are being made. It could a tiny amount or a hair raising amount.

They might be monitoring remittances for the chances of some of it being involved in money laundering now I don't know how they will track and link it to someone but if the government is allocating a budget for it then they might be having some big use for it. Also I don't think monitoring money remittances done in cryptocurrency is what they need to focus on, as looking for specific addresses and transactions won't lead them to somewhere as there is no clue to what the transaction is all about and for what use it is for, they might be just doing a wild goose chase which will lead them to nothing.

[buwaytress]

Really, really nice catch. This blockchain analysis business is one I've been wondering about for almost as long as I first started using Bitcoin. They don't make the news much, yet seem to be quietly proliferating. Other than to assist with enforcement, almost every big business either has contracts with or are doing their own R&D (you know it's big when BitFury is investing in its own analysis tool).

The few open source projects available don't seem to be getting very much active commits on Github, so are the best developers going where the money is? One big contract from someone like the IRS or even Interpol and you're really set for a modestly comfortable life.

[figmentofmyass]

Really, really nice catch. This blockchain analysis business is one I've been wondering about for almost as long as I first started using Bitcoin. They don't make the news much, yet seem to be quietly proliferating. Other than to assist with enforcement, almost every big business either has contracts with or are doing their own R&D (you know it's big when BitFury is investing in its own analysis tool).

The few open source projects available don't seem to be getting very much active commits on Github, so are the best developers going where the money is? One big contract from someone like the IRS or even Interpol and you're really set for a modestly comfortable life.

yup. that's exactly when it sunk in for me---when bitfury released their address clustering research. it was sad to see. i guess once operations get big enough, it should be no surprise when they start branching out into less savory activities. greed is a powerful thing.

stay safe out there, y'all. use VPN, manual coin selection, a reputable coin mixer, swap to XMR as needed, and avoid KYC.

[Samarkand]

@gentlemand delivering the goods as usual 
Thank you for sharing this Twitter thread.

...
swap to XMR as needed, and avoid KYC.

Monero is obviously the most promising altcoin, but it is still experimental tech.
Just take a look at the critical bug that was patched a few days ago:
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/09/25/monero-burning-vulnerability/

“A bug in the wallet software allowed a determined attacker to cause significant damage to organizations
present in the Monero ecosystem with minimal cost,” declares the official statement. “[…] A determined attacker
could burn the funds of an organization’s wallet whilst merely losing network transaction fees.”

On an unrelated note the problem with avoiding KYC is very often that you end up
buying your first Bitcoins without worrying about privacy or fungibility at all. If you
discover the value of privacy and the extent of blockchain analysis down the road, it is often too late
and your coins are already tainted with a connection to your true identity.

...
Some interesting reading about the stats of US government spending on blockchain analysis.
...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IlH60Jd9tfKsttABORiZGhBlLz4L4pwSLX0jIYZWj2E/edit#gid=0

Why did the FBI receive money from Chainalysis (row #8 of the table)? In all other
deals the money was flowing from the government agency to an analytics company, which
is the direction that makes more sense.

[Tapyaks72]

@gentlemand delivering the goods as usual 
Thank you for sharing this Twitter thread.

...
swap to XMR as needed, and avoid KYC.

Monero is obviously the most promising altcoin, but it is still experimental tech.
Just take a look at the critical bug that was patched a few days ago:
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/09/25/monero-burning-vulnerability/

“A bug in the wallet software allowed a determined attacker to cause significant damage to organizations
present in the Monero ecosystem with minimal cost,” declares the official statement. “[…] A determined attacker
could burn the funds of an organization’s wallet whilst merely losing network transaction fees.”

On an unrelated note the problem with avoiding KYC is very often that you end up
buying your first Bitcoins without worrying about privacy or fungibility at all. If you
discover the value of privacy and the extent of blockchain analysis down the road, it is often too late
and your coins are already tainted with a connection to your true identity.

...
Some interesting reading about the stats of US government spending on blockchain analysis.
...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IlH60Jd9tfKsttABORiZGhBlLz4L4pwSLX0jIYZWj2E/edit#gid=0

Why did the FBI receive money from Chainalysis (row #8 of the table)? In all other
deals the money was flowing from the government agency to an analytics company, which
is the direction that makes more sense.

Of course US  Federal government will intervene crypto currency is a bigger market in the world and of course what they afraid if it will be used to as the medium of transit money to finance terrorism, and aside from that they wan't crypto currency to be legalized to have full control.

[gantez]

US want to be in the news either for playing the "big guys" role and trying to say stop, we are watching or to say move on. The angle of immigration is what I don't get just immediately. Yes immigration laws has to go down but not certainly just yet.

[audaciousbeing]

https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1044273666236837893

https://diar.co/volume-2-issue-38/

Scroll down to the second article. Some interesting reading about the stats of US government spending on blockchain analysis.

Unsurprisingly the IRS is number one. The second is US customs and immigration. I wonder what the angle is there.

Here's the countdown in full in USD expenditure.

IRS   2,191,835   
ICE   1,537,945   
FBI   1,142,671   
Fiscal Service   330,552   
DEA   215,333   
SEC   184,480   
CFTC 117,372

The angle of the IRS is very straight forward and they should be commended for it. If there is any revenue generating body that so active in its duties, ready for the future and whose both rich and poor does not want to have any conflict with, its the IRS. They understand this and realize fast individuals and corporate bodies are using bitcoin and to evade tax couple with the challenge they have to face in getting warrants just to get information released to them to perform their duties, the best way is to study the subject matter itself. The good news is that it point to the direction that there is a future to the blockchain without which it would be wasting of tax payer money to research a short life-span project. The bad news however, is when they finish the research and are coming out with a robust policy, it will become almost impossible to hide.

The angle of the customs and immigration is what I am yet to phantom but it would not be unconnected to ensuring a more efficient discharge of their duties and the ability to track goods in real time and also eliminate the issue of smuggling to a large extent.