How traceable are Monero transactions compared to Bitcoin? Cyber security expert reveals
Monero transactions compared to Bitcoin
Bitcoin has always been known to be anonymous with its transactions, therefore making it difficult to trace. But how difficult is it to trace a Bitcoin transaction compared to a Monero transaction? Cybersecurity author Andy Greenberg reveals this in an interview with prominent crypto journalist, Laura Shin.
Using Alphabay, a market on the darknet, as a case study, Greenberg said, “Alphabay came back online and now only accepts Monero.” This means that the darknet market was able to get back up and continue operating after finding a more suitable private way to accept payments.
Monero harder to track than Bitcoin?
Arguably, Bitcoin transactions can be so anonymous that it would be difficult to know that the sender or receiver provided the asset method of using a public address mixed with random numbers and letters. On the other hand, Monero transactions are more private since the transactions are hidden from anyone viewing the block explorer with just a Monero address.
Over the past few years, there have been several cases of Bitcoin transactions being traced. Although the transactions do not show the sender and recipient names, it is recorded in a public ledger where the wallet’s address and the amount received are revealed in the block explorer.
According to Greenberg, Monero’s privacy features make it “far, far more difficult”. track than Bitcoin ever been. Compared to Bitcoin, XMR entangles transactions and hides the amount involved, making it difficult for law enforcement or others to trace the payments to the asset.
“It might seem like this golden age of cryptocurrency tracking is coming to an end and people are wondering, but I think it might just be accurate to see it as a new phase, a new step in this cat-and-mouse [crypto tracing] game,” Greenberg said.
Is XMR traceable at all?
While XMR won the debate on most untraceable transactions, Greenberg in another interview with Paul Ducklin indicates that it does not mean that the asset’s transaction is not traceable at all. According to Greenberg citing a leaked Chainalysis document, Monero transactions can be traced 60% of the time to get a usable lead. This revelation has been questioned common perception of Monero be a completely untraceable asset.
The leaked Chainalysis document which tells Italian law enforcement that they can trace XMR transactions in most cases, suggesting that while Monero transactions are indeed difficult to trace, it’s definitely not impossible.
In particular, Monero’s privacy features have made it famous not only in the crypto community, but also among individuals and groups involved in illegal activities. With reports now having it that the asset transactions may not be so untraceable, the act of using cryptocurrency for illicit purposes may only be a shaky option.
Meanwhile, the last 24 hours have Monero token also known as XMR has been in a bullish trend up 1.1% along with the rest of the crypto market. At the time of writing, Monero is currently trading at $152 after falling from a high of $186 on January 29th.
Notably, despite XMR’s significant rise since the beginning of the year following the ubiquitous bearish trend last year, XMR is still down 71% from its all-time high of $542 seen 5 years ago on January 9, 2018.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView
