Cryptocurrency Anonymity Tracking

[grarpamp]

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608716/bitcoin-transactions-arent-as-anonymous-as-everyone-hoped/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15085522
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1708.04748.pdf

Cookies, conversions, CoinJoins, analysis

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/23/2234207/irs-now-has-a-tool-to-unmask-bitcoin-tax-evaders
http://www.thedailybeast.com/irs-now-has-a-tool-to-unmask-bitcoin-tax-cheats
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3935924-IRS-Chainalysis-Contract.html

You can use bitcoin. But you can't hide from the taxman. At least,
that's the hope of the Internal Revenue Service, which has purchased
specialist software to track those using bitcoin, according to a
contract obtained by The Daily Beast. The document highlights how law
enforcement isn't only concerned with criminals accumulating bitcoin
from selling drugs or hacking targets, but also those who use the
currency to hide wealth or avoid paying taxes. The IRS has claimed
that only 802 people declared bitcoin losses or profits in 2015;
clearly fewer than the actual number of people trading the
cryptocurrency -- especially as more investors dip into the world of
cryptocurrencies, and the value of bitcoin punches past the $4,000
mark. Maybe lots of bitcoin traders didn't realize the government
expects to collect tax on their digital earnings, or perhaps some
thought they'd be able to get away with stockpiling bitcoin thanks to
the perception that the cryptocurrency is largely anonymous.

"The purpose of this acquisition is to help us trace the movement of
money through the bitcoin economy," a section of the contract reads.
The Daily Beast obtained the document through the Freedom of
Information Act. The contractor in this case is Chainalysis, a startup
offering its "Reactor" tool to visualize, track, and analyze bitcoin
transactions. Chainalysis' users include law enforcement agencies,
banks, and regulatory entities. The software can follow bitcoin as it
moves from one wallet to another, and eventually to an exchange where
the bitcoin user will likely cash out into dollars or another
currency. This is the point law enforcement could issue a subpoena to
the exchange and figure out who is really behind the bitcoin.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/6u72kt/cryptocurrency_returns_for_2017/
https://hackcabin.com/post/dont-mine-bitcoin-mine-altcoins/