IRS to Pay $625K to Crack Monero, Crypto Proponents Scoff at Contract

The US IRS (Internal Revenue Service) wants to shell out USD 625,000 to a contractor if they successfully crack the layer-2 privacy schemes as well as privacy-centric cryptocurrency asset monero (XMR).

As per the US tax agency, the entity presently has limited probing resources to trace such kinds of crypto transactions.

The agency wants to get a solution for tracing monero (XMR) along with layer-two network protocol transactions or for that matter even other off-chain transactions which offer privacy to the illicit actors. The IRS agency would be distributing USD 625,000 to maybe one or even more contractors in 2 phases. In the first phase, it will distribute USD 500,000 post the first proof-of-concept and the remaining USD 125,000 will be distributed after a complete examination as well as launch.

The appointed contractor will have to extend status reports about the progress weekly and work along with the Cyber Special Agents and members of the IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit.

All the data, documentation, software, and source code developed would be furnished before IRS-CI.

Meanwhile, the new ‘job offer’ from IRS garnered mixed reactions from the crypto community on social media and online forums. A few people liked Monero (XMR) for its elusiveness towards the special task forces of law enforcement.