Cyber Security Company 'CipherTrace' is based here in Silicon Valley - where the Global Crypto Press and countless other tech organizations call home. 

For the past 5 years they've worked with governments, law enforcement agencies, banks and other institutions, assisting them when intelligence is needed on a cryptocurrency transaction.

They're one of several companies who provide data on cryptocurrency transactions, mainly bitcoin, which tracing is considered fairly simple these days thanks to easily obtained software that agencies can purchase and deploy themselves. Law enforcement agencies having agents with experience in the space now standard and necessary among developed nations.

While 'Bitcoin Tracing' Has Become Common, One Coin Still Frustrated Law Enforcement...

Monero, where every transaction was viewed as an instant dead end.

Back in July, Adam Lee from our organization published a story after leaked FBI documents showed them openly admitting Monero had them stumped. He wrote:

"...one coin does qualify as 'untraceable' at least for now, and it's a thorn in the FBI's side as they admit to having an inability to detect the destination of the funds in operations when Monero (XMR) is used."

But that statement may be obsolete now.

CipherTrace Announces They Can Track Monero...

Yesterday CiperTrace stated that they have "developed tools for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to track transactions of notoriously difficult-to-trace privacy coin Monero (XMR)."

They also claim Monero is used in 45% of Darknet transactions, with Bitcoin still the most common.

“Our research and development team worked for a year on developing techniques for providing financial investigators with analysis tools. There is much work still to be done, but CipherTrace is proud to announce the world’s first Monero tracing capability. We are grateful for the support of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate on this project." says CEO Dave Jevans.

However, Some Doubt These Claims...

Monero supporters on Twitter were quick to point out CipherTrace so far has made all of these claims with no proof to back them up.

There has been no demonstration showing it in action, or even a vague explanation of what they discovered that would allow this.

The vagueness continued in an interview with the CiperTrace CEO, conducted by one of those Monero supporters.

Why I'm Leaning Towards Believing CipherTrace...

You can bet CipherTrace's announcement was followed by countless governments and respective law enforcement agencies reaching out to them, These agencies surely all have at least a couple of cases that were considered dead ends - unless they could find destination of a Monero transaction.

I just can't imagine them responding to these government requests with 'Well... we can't actually trace Monero, like it says on our site... so lol nvm".

They're already running paid ads on Google where they're practically re-branding as 'the company that can trace Monero', as seen below:

CipherTrace already running ads focused on their claims.

Throw in how CipherTrace openly says this project happened thanks to funding from the US taxpayer, via the Dept Of Homeland Security - if untrue, why bother?

If this is a bluff or publicity stunt, or even just an exaggeration - it's an insane one to make. It would be such a bad move that it seems very unlikely.

Also worth adding - they're a private company, there's no publicly traded stock to pump up.

Just how confident are Monero users that the coin is still private?

I pulled up the Monero charts expecting to see red - but it's actually up by a little more than 3% at the time of publishing this.

Is some kind of market reaction still coming? If I was holding a lot of XMR right now I would at least be on the lookout for other Monero supporters deciding to parking their funds in something else until fully resolved.

And Never, Ever Forget...
We decided any time this topic is discussed to include a friendly reminder that every government provides untraceable currency themselves -  they call it cash.

That cash can even become digital, easily via pre-paid debit cards that are available at thousands of convenience stores and gas stations -  no ID needed, fully anonymous!

Always remember: the crypto boogieman isn't real.