Elliptic's company blog covers blockchain analytics, tracing crypto used in crime, ransomware, sanctions evasion, and regulation.
HN commenters point to Elliptic as a firm that tracks illicit crypto and might help recover stolen assets, alongside Chainalysis.
Elliptic | Software Engineer | ONSITE | London | Full-time
We reveal the truth behind Bitcoin activity.
Elliptic’s team of computer scientists and former law-enforcement agents has developed software to make Bitcoin activity more transparent and accountable. Today the world’s largest banks and Bitcoin exchanges use Elliptic software to monitor billions of dollars in Bitcoin transactions every month, and the top law enforcement agencies use Elliptic software to investigate Bitcoin’s role in cases of terrorist financing, arms trafficking, child pornography, and blackmail. Elliptic’s software is recognized in the Bitcoin industry as the standard for regulatory compliance and forensic investigations.
Open positions:
Platform Engineer
* Proven experience with Java/C++ or Scala
* Strong CS fundamentals, including good working knowledge of algorithms, data structures, and concurrency.
* A passion for developing and mentoring team members
* Highly developed technical and people troubleshooting skills
* Expertise with data pipelines and modelling for analytic scenarios (SQL, NoSQL, Graph databases)
Javascript Engineer
* Proven industry experience with modern web development and frameworks
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* Comfort with asynchronous programming, be it callbacks,…
> I'm honestly curious, how did/are bitcoiners using BTC and crypto tech to help people in these regions? What's the methodology? And also for actually spending/using the coins.
Start here [0], this discusses BTC involvement in the Maidan Revolution, and then the come back alive campaign with the Azov in the Donbas region in 2014, and then touches on the Government backed initiative by the Ukrainian Ministry of digital reform in '22. Ultimately, the Zelensky government backed the creation of United24 with BTC at it's core.
It's worth doing your own research, I can assure you it's really worth your time to see how effective open source technology can boot-strap itself so quickly in conflict zones. Ultimately, it's a testament of Human ingenuity and perseverance in some of the most daunting situations.
> Also, from your wider comment, by the way you phrased it, I can't quite tell who you're saying is shelling ethnically Russian men, women and children in these areas a crime against humanity, the Ukrainian military or the Russians?
Sorry?
Even if you were completely lost by what I wrote, are you seriously not aware of what is happening in Crimea, Kharkiv, Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol? It's Russians killing other Ethnic Russians on the Eastern and Southern parts of Ukraine; then turning around and saying it's Ukrainians killing their own citizens as we see Russian soldiers shell, loot, steal, rape, murder all over Ukraine without any hesitation or regard for Human life.
0:…
> electricity might even be free for businesses
From https://www.elliptic.co/blog/how-iran-uses-bitcoin-mining-to-evade-sanctions
> In 2019 Iran officially recognised cryptoasset mining, later establishing a licensing regime that required miners to identify themselves, pay a higher (but still very low) tariff for electricity, and to sell their mined bitcoins to Iran’s central bank. Thousands of unlicensed mining farms have subsequently been identified and shut down - including in mosques, which receive free electricity.
So, not quite free - but rather low still. How low is in https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Iran/electricity_prices/
Iran is 0.004 USD/kWh for households with no info for business costs (though its still likely rather low as Iran is the 2nd lowest cost for energy on that list).
For comparison, USA is 0.153 USD/kWH.
The sanctions aspect make this part of the why crypto currency is appealing. They are essentially burning oil they can't sell on the market into electricity for Bitcoin which is hard to sanction.
> The electricity being used by miners in Iran would require the equivalent of approximately 10 million barrels of crude oil each year to generate - around 4% of total Iranian oil exports in 2020.
I do not see a 'world's first':
Elliptic does not offer insurance to customers but has to get insurance itself according to the published terms:
'Elliptic Vault shall effect and maintain with a reputable insurance company a policy or policies of insurance providing an adequate level of cover in respect of all liability which may be incurred by Elliptic Vault under this Agreement or in respect of any loss of Stored Funds up to a value of the Specified Cover.'
'In the event of any claim against the insurance company by Elliptic Vault, in respect of any loss, damage or corruption of Stored Funds up the value of Specified Cover, any Stored Funds subject of the insurance claim will be valued at the average USD ask price offered on the Bitstamp exchange in the 24-hour period ending at 00:01 am GMT on the day on which Fees are payable, or on such other basis as the insurer may adopt from time to time.'
https://www.elliptic.co/vault/terms
Insurance coverage for data loss, data theft etc. is not new, on the contrary, it is quite common if you store digital data and do not plan to go bankrupt because of customers suing you …
Oh, well in that case I definitely feel more comfortable putting my life savings in.
Were these all front end exploits too?
https://ndxfi.medium.com/indexed-attack-post-mortem-b006094f0bdc
https://www.elliptic.co/resources/defi-risk-regulation-and-the-rise-of-decrime
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/12/hackers-drain-31-million-from-cryptocurrency-service-monox-finance/
https://therecord.media/hackers-steal-29-million-from-crypto-platform-cream-finance/
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/liquid-cryptocurrency-exchange-hack.html
https://www.dw.com/en/hackers-steal-600-million-in-record-breaking-cryptocurrency-heist/a-58828959
https://fortune.com/2021/06/24/bitcoin-ameer-raees-cajee-theft-south-africa/
Fair enough, but I didn't mention El Salvador.
Moving dollars in and out of authoritarian or war-torn countries isn't trivial. That's why I mentioned Venezuela and Ukraine.[0] Russia itself also has a significant crypto economy. None of this is to say there isn't demand for dollars in those places, just that supply of dollars is not exactly abundant. Thus, they go to crypto.
That's the argument.
[0] https://www.elliptic.co/blog/live-updates-millions-in-crypto-crowdfunded-for-the-ukrainian-military