As part of the fight against crime using crypto, Russia has launched a project to set up a tool for monitoring cryptocurrency wallets.
Russia’s financial monitoring service, Rosfinmonitoring, appears to have taken the fight against crypto crime to another level following a report that it is funding the development of a cryptos tracking tool. The country is reportedly building a tool that will keep an eye on crypto wallets potentially associated with illegal activities like terrorism and crime. The tool will be particularly focused on Bitcoin, although Russian federal authorities have in the past also shown interest in tracing other coins, such as Ether and Monero.
The contract for the development of the proprietary tool was awarded to a company called RCO. This company is under the tutelage of Rambler, one of the country’s leading information technology companies. Rosfinmonitoring will invest 14.7 million rubles (about $ 200,000) in the project, while the initial cost was estimated at about $ 270,000.
The tracking tool will include a database of crypto wallets, which will make it easier for authorities to track the activities of suspicious crypto users, according to the government contract tracking site.
The blockchain information site CoinDesk, who was the first to report the case, claims that the Russian Federation has been considering the idea of a cryptos tracking tool since 2018. An ongoing project around the same year was even funded, as detailed by the government contract tracking platform, but there is no record of its use.
The documentation of the current project notes that the tool will be able to compile information about crypto users and assess their involvement in illegal activities. Rosfinmonitoring believes that the project will be effective and ensure the safety of budget funds. It should be noted that the financial agency previously presented a project called Transparent Blockchain that monitors the movement of virtual assets.
Cryptocurrencies are rapidly gaining popularity in the criminal field, and their anonymity has become a concern for most authorities. Last month, the European Union presented proposals to make anonymous cryptocurrency transactions illegal in an effort to reduce terrorist financing and money laundering. These proposals were aimed at covering all cryptocurrency entities and services. The United States has also embarked on the track of tracking cryptocurrency transactions, following an upsurge in cryptocurrency-related crime.
