The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has awarded two $625,000 contracts to Chainalysis and data forensics analysis firm Integra FEC to crack Monero (XMR), according to filings posted on September 30.

• Chainalysis and Integra will both receive an initial grant of $500,000 to fund the development of the solution, and the remainder if the solution is approved
• Monero’s privacy protocol hides both sender and recipient information, as well as transaction amounts
• Lawmakers have expressed concern about privacy coins, saying that they would enable financing of illegal activities
• The IRS first revealed that they were looking for solutions to trace Monero transactions in early September
• Another cryptocurrency intelligence firm, CipherTrace, claimed to have broken Monero’s privacy features for the US Department of Homeland Security
• The two contracts have an 8 month deadline to develop the tool

Related Reading:

• Coinbase reportedly looking to sell tools to IRS
• Coinbase CEO says that the market will move towards privacy coins over time