In Brief:
- Antinalysis is a service designed to help dark web users identify compromised bitcoin addresses.
- It was shut down after concerns about the service being used to hide money laundering operations.
Antinalysis, a tool that allows dark web users to identify compromised bitcoin addresses suspends its services. The news comes just 8 hours after elliptic posts a blog about Antinalaysis.
The tool drew vast media attention after Elliptic’s blog post highlighted its existence. Later, on August 16, Tom Robinson, Co-Founder of Elliptic, tweeted about the suspension of the site.
“So after the large amount of media exposure, I’m sad to say, Antinalysis has attracted [the] attention of state agencies,” wrote the tool’s creator on a dark web forum.
“Pharoah,” the technical administrator for Antinalysis’ creator Incognito, claimed that the tool was not meant just for criminals.
In a statement sent to BBC reporter Joe Tidy, Pharoah wrote: “Our team believes, that in the current democratic world, every one last human being has the right to do whatever they want and possess complete overview of their privacy while not violating individual rights of others. We consider ourself activists that dislike state agencies conducting mass surveillance under the name of national security and criminal investigations.”
Robinson also pointed out that Antinalysis makes blockchain analytics available to the public for the first time. This would enable crypto users who are concerned about receiving the proceeds of crime to pre-screen addresses before accepting bitcoin. “To date, this type of analysis has been used primarily by regulated financial service providers,” he added.
