Law enforcement agencies are turning to blockchain to track everything from financial crimes to drug trafficking, even as they’re still learning how to use the distributed-ledger technology.
The accessible nature of a public blockchain—an open database that can exist on millions of computers designed to allow for reliable transactions among anonymous users—is particularly appealing to law enforcement, which doesn’t need a subpoena or search warrant to access it.
But the nature of blockchain also makes it difficult to identify real-world users, particularly those who use sophisticated techniques to hide their identities or those who rely on more obscure cryptocurrencies that ...
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