A spokesperson for Chainalysis, a start-up that traces cryptocurrency payments, tells the Times that in the end, “cryptocurrencies are actually more transparent than most other forms of value transfer. Certainly more transparent than cash.”
The Bitcoin ledger can be viewed by anyone who is plugged into the blockchain. “It is digital bread crumbs,” said Kathryn Haun, a former federal prosecutor and investor at venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. “There’s a trail law enforcement can follow rather nicely.”
