Russian experts have been debating the feasibility of a new crypto monitoring platform that could allow Moscow to partially de-anonymize bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and even privacy tokens like monero (XMR).
As reported yesterday, a local media outlet said it has seen evidence that the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (known as Rosfinmonitoring), a government agency charged with countering money laundering and terrorism funding, has developed a prototype for an AI-powered “partial” de-anonymizing platform. The platform would reportedly let officials work out just who in Russia is sending BTC, ETH and more to whom.
The agency said it needs a budget pledge of over USD 10 million in order to launch the platform.
Per a report from Izvestia, Dmitry Zakharov, the CEO of the Moscow Digital School, said that the Rosfinmonitoring project could “technically” work – but faced “certain difficulties,” due to the fact that most criminals are so careful to cover their tracks.
He stated,
“The percentage of terrorist financing that is conducted using cryptocurrencies in Russia is practically zero, and just a small percentage of all the money that is laundered [in Russia] is done so using crypto.”
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