MimbleWimble, a privacy-oriented blockchain that seeks to cover users’ tracks, is said not to be very private at all, according to a blog post. Other privacy coins have gained popularity as much of the early usage of crypto was because of its ability to complete transactions anonymously. Over time, law enforcement has caught on to the nefarious transactions and most crypto transactions are really just digital breadcrumbs leading back to any and all individuals.
Ivan Bogatyy, posting on Medium, had this to say about the MimbleWimble privacy coin.
“Mimblewimble’s privacy is fundamentally flawed. Using only $60/week of AWS spend, I was able to uncover the exact addresses of senders and recipients for 96% Grin transactions in real-time. The problem is inherent to Mimblewimble, and I don’t believe there’s a way to fix it. This means Mimblewimble should no longer be considered a viable alternative to Zcash or Monero when it comes to privacy.”
Multiple crypto services have created sophisticated software to track blockchain transactions to uncover the tracks of illicit transactions are becoming widely available. While it may have taken some time for law enforcement to catch up to the emergence of cryptocurrency transactions, many of the privacy claims regarding crypto are have been called into question.
Add this to the new FATF rules, and it will be difficult for the bad guys to use crypto like they once did. Back to cash, I guess.
As for Mimblewimble, it will be interesting to see how they respond to the claims.