US government authorities have just invested $5.7 million on commercial contracts with specialized companies to analyze cryptocurrencies and blockchain transactions.
These contracted firms have offered services to the US government, according to a Diar study, to improve the fight against tax evasion, money laundering, financing of terrorism, and arms and drug trafficking in the Dark Internet markets, as well as other illegal activities that involved cryptocurrencies and blockchain transactions.
According to the research of this publication, the demand from government agencies for analyzing blockchain networks has increased along with the growth of Bitcoin (BTC) popularity and the volume of transactions confirmed on that network. Additionally, government agencies have been demanding blockchain transactions analysis services to link people’s identities to their Bitcoin (BTC) addresses.
The cryptocurrencies and blockchain enthusiasts are not happy with the US government’s decision to analyze crypto transactions
The contracted investigative firms could be tracking transactions in cryptocurrency exchange platforms or services related to cryptos to link them directly to the identity of a suspect of financial crimes.
The pseudo-anonymity of crypto coins allows intelligence agencies to follow a trail, which can often be decrypted by US government-contracted companies
On the other hand, the Diar research states that the Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have raised in 2018 only the total of what they did last year, but the popularity of this fundraising scheme seems to be migrating to more specific and select projects. According to the data collected, 70% of the crypto tokens have a lower price than during their ICO.
According to information from TokenData, cited by Diar, by August 2018 there were only 17 projects that completed a round of funding, the minimum in one year. According to projections by Ricky Tan, founder of TokenData, it is unlikely that ICOs and pre-sales of tokens will accelerate during the remainder of the year.
