Government Tracking of Crypto Is Growing, But There Are Ways to Avoid It
Much noise has been made about the untraceable qualities of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin "can be used to buy merchandise anonymously" said early primers on crypto, it offers users the kind of financial privacy that was previously available only from a "Swiss bank account," say more recent commentators. And given its ability to provide people with a layer of anonymity and privacy, it has been smeared by politicians, experts and mainstream journalists alike as a hiding place for almost any hacker, drug dealer, gang member, terrorist or despot you could possibly name (even if cash is still the preferred financial medium of such personae non gratae).
It's therefore no wonder that, for several years, governments have been feverishly trying to trace Bitcoin's circulation, as well as that of other digital currencies. And despite the popular reputation of most cryptocurrencies as anonymous, they've been aided in this pursuit by the fact that most cryptos are not anonymous, but rather pseudonymous. In other words, by linking transactions to fixed wallet addresses, and by keeping a public record of every single transaction ever made on their chains, most popular cryptocurrencies provide national governments with an almost perfect means of keeping tabs on our financial activity.
