Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on Today at 01:40:09 PM

It's not the beginning by any means.

https://www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/chainalysis
https://www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/ciphertrace
https://www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/coinbase
https://www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/elliptic

IRS, FBI, DEA, ICE, CBP, SEC, CFTC, Secret Service, even the Navy, Air Force, and Army. The list goes on. 100s of contracts from dozens of agencies. There is barely a US government agency or department which hasn't paid for the services of one or more blockchain analysis companies.

Most people aren't aware of this - I think that probably a large % of people that use BTC think that they are "hiding" away their money in the blockchain (so as to not be found by anyone) but they forget the fact that they've used a centralized exchange with KYC procedures to buy/sell the BTC/other crypto along the way. This is specially true regarding newcomers that arrive to the scene by means of news being spread on the social networks about blockchain and aren't really aware of how traceable they can be if they so desire to use these services - after the first purchase it's just a matter of following the trace to whoever transactions they do in the future (not talking about employing mixers into the equation since most people (average John's) aren't even aware of their existence).

Even in the 4 companies that you've linked o_e_l_e_o, we can see that the biggest entity that paid them was IRS itself (except for Coinbase case where he was the second biggest one). Now, more than ever, we should really push people to try their best to make their transactions on P2P networks where KYC is non-existent. Whenever I find myself arguing with my friends - more during peak prices of BTC - I always deter them from using centralized exchanges in favor of non-centralized ones although the fight is uneven as these are always less known to the general audience and they end up thinking that those services are "less" trustful than the likes of Coinbase, Kraken, etc ...