IRS offers $625 000 for those who can crack Monero privacy system
The Federal agency is inviting participants to try and break the Monero network’s famed level of privacy.
The United States IRS agency has announced a bounty of up to $625 000 to anyone who can crack Monero’s privacy. The participants’ applications are accepted until September 16.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will pay $625 000 to a person or group of people who will crack Monero and other private coins. IRS motivates the competition with a growing number of cybercrimes related to anonymous projects in the industry. The payment will be made in two stages, and the meaning of the initiative is immediately clear: governments are afraid of the opportunities that private cryptocurrencies provide to their owners.
Here is a quote from the U.S. IRS announcement that appeared on the agency’s website:
“IRS-CI is seeking a solution with one or more to provide innovative solutions for tracing and attribution of privacy coins, such as expert tools, data, source codes, algorithms, and software development services.”
The IRS recognizes that law enforcement agencies have problems fighting blockchains focused on privacy:
“Currently, there are limited resources available to track transactions involving private coins in the activities of attackers.”
Contestants are required to have a working prototype of how they plan to “crack” Monero. This may be XMR wallets user recognition system, the volume of their transactions or even complex statistical tools that determine the probability of coins being sent from a particular address.
IRS accepts applications until September 16. The reward will be paid in two stages: the first will be a down payment of $500 000 for developing a working concept of a tool for hacking confidential information. The author will receive the remaining $125 000 after a pilot test is completed and the concept is approved by the government.
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