Sandia Bitcoin deanonymization tool development receives US government support

Sandia is working on a set of analytical tools aimed at addressing the legal and regulatory challenges facing Bitcoin, and the project has even received support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Division.

As Bitcoin becomes an everyday payment method for more and more people, law enforcement agencies are beginning to realize that they need to use innovative methods to investigate money laundering and cyber theft cases. However, their first priority is to minimize the time spent tracking illegal operations online.

According to Sandia's chief researcher Andrew Cox, his team's mission is to understand the circulation principle of digital currency. This kind of currency that can be operated anonymously can change the transaction method at will, making transactions more economical, but it also makes cryptocurrency a "green channel" for criminals.

That's why Sandia wanted to complete this development study for the Department of Homeland Security.

Sandia has established a virtual trading research environment to test whether its algorithm can effectively identify illegal anonymous virtual currency trading users.

“This doesn’t mean we can get their real name, because no one’s name is actually associated with Bitcoin, but it can show which transactions were completed by the same user,” Cox stressed.

It is reported that Sandia will continue to make detailed adjustments based on the progress of the project in the future.