Is Chainalysis Evil with Jonathan Levin

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“Bitcoin can be used for good and bad. I don’t want North Korea building nuclear weapons because of cryptocurrencies.”
— Jonathan Levin

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Zoom
Date: Thursday, 2nd April
Project: Chainalysis
Role: Co-Founder

Bitcoin's strengths lie in its ability to separate money and state, censorship and seizure resistance. It is an open and permissionless network that allows anyone to interact with it.

It is an entirely public network, but that doesn't mean it is anonymous. Addresses do not use personal information but created using alphanumeric characters, and addresses can be monitored to watch transactions and follow the flow of Bitcoin.

Chainalysis is a controversial company, with many claiming they are antithetical to the ideals behind Bitcoin. They offer blockchain analysis software that will scan the blockchain and report on illicit or suspicious uses of Bitcoin. They provide these services to exchanges, governments and law enforcement to help tie real-world identities to Bitcoin transactions.

In this interview, I talk to the co-founder of Chainalysis Jonathan Levin. We discuss whether Chainalysis is antithetical to Bitcoin, how they decide who can use the software, and if they are helping erode privacy.

TIMESTAMPS

00:05:30: Introductions
00:06:00: What Chainalysis do
00:07:23: Background to the company
00:10:04: Clients
00:10:40: Helping exchanges with risk
00:13:31: Limitations on potential customers
00:15:07: Working with authoritarian countries
00:18:03: “Welcome to Video” case
00:22:24: How the software works
00:24:42: Jurisdiction in a global investigation
00:27:15: How data is collected
00:30:52: Crime fighting/privacy trade off
00:35:01: Is Jonathan a Bitcoiner?
00:39:47: How he got into Bitcoin
00:42:03: Importance of decentralisation
00:45:06: Does Chainalysis erode the permissionless of Bitcoin?
00:50:21: Beginning of Chainalysis
00:51:50: Chainalysis aiding potential seizure of funds
00:55:47: Freedom of information
00:57:08: Nuances around potential future customers
01:01:04: Sanctions and aims of Chainalysis
01:07:29: Has privacy been compromised for profit?
01:15:52: Final comments

 

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SHOW NOTES

PodcastPeter McCormack