What Bitcoin Did

View Original

Is Chainalysis Evil with Jonathan Levin

Peter McCormack

Interview | Description | Timestamps | Show Notes

See this content in the original post

iTunes | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

Is Chainalysis Evil with Jonathan Levin - WBD210 Peter McCormack

Download Episode MP3 File
The file will open in a new window. Click down arrow to download the file.

See this content in the original post

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.

See this content in the original post

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

See this content in the original post

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show my doing the following:

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.

SPONSORS

See this content in the original post
See this content in the original post