Recently, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), a Finnish police agency, declared to have discovered a method to trace the crypto Monero, known for its privacy.
However, privacy enthusiasts of this currency have rejected the agency’s claims, emphasizing that Monero currently remains untraceable.
Let’s see below all the details.
Summary
Crypto Privacy Controversies: Monero’s Resistance to Finnish Traceability
As anticipated, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Finnish law enforcement agency, has recently declared to have discovered a method to identify individuals who use the crypto Monero (XMR) to launder money.
This statement was made in relation to the case of Julius Aleksanteri Kivimäki, suspected of being responsible for the cyber attack on Vastaamo, a private provider of psychotherapy services.
The Finnish authorities had long suspected that Kivimäki was the computer criminal behind the breach of Vastaamo’s patient database in October 2020.
After gaining access to the patients’ medical records, Kivimäki would have requested 40 Bitcoin (BTC) in exchange for not disclosing such information, also threatening the 30,000 patients of Vastaamo.
Approximately two years later, the NBI identified Kivimäki as the hacker and accused him of various crimes, including data breach, attempted extortion, privacy violation, and tampering with evidence.
An Interpol arrest warrant led to Kivimäki’s arrest in early February 2023, followed by his extradition to Finland.
Despite the NBI claiming to have discovered Monero during the investigative process, the released report provides few verifiable evidence.
Marko Leposen, head of the investigation, defended the decision not to disclose details about the traceability of XMR transactions.
The report, although detailed, does not provide much information on how the NBI identified Kivimäki.
However, it reveals the hacker’s attempt to hide the movement of funds by converting from BTC to XMR and transferring them between different platforms.
The controversial claims of the NBI about Monero’s traceability
Meanwhile, some voices among the supporters of Monero’s crypto privacy have rejected the statements of the Finnish police agency.
According to the latter, in the case in question, there has been no trace of Monero transactions.
On Reddit, a user has put forward the hypothesis that the success of the NBI is limited to identifying “a specific person who used centralized exchanges and traded Monero with traceable cryptocurrencies.”
They also noticed similarities in the amounts and deduced that it was the same Monero. Regarding the traceability of XMR, the user emphasized that it is not yet a reality.
Another participant suggested that the only progress made by the agency was realizing that a “similar amount was exchanged from bitcoin to monero, then deposited on Binance.”
Brief focus on the price of Monero (XMR)
Recently the value of Monero (XMR) has increased by 3.51%, reaching approximately $156.92.
This marks the continuation of its positive trend from previous weeks, during which Monero (XMR) recorded a 1.0% increase, rising from $154.21 to its current value.
We remind you that, currently, the all-time high of the cryptocurrency is $542.33.
Furthermore, during the last week, the trading volume of Monero has decreased by 13.0%, while the circulating supply has seen a modest increase of 0.05%, bringing the total supply to 18.15 million XMR.
In conclusion, based on the latest data, Monero currently ranks 29th in terms of market capitalization, with a value of $2.84 billion.
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