SEC to Surveil Crypto Transactions on Leading Ledgers – Are Bitcoin, XRP and Ethereum Fair Game?

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is planning to track the most widely used crypto ledgers. According to an announcement, the SEC is attempting to figure out how to read blockchain data more easily. In addition to tracking data on coins with the highest transaction volumes, the SEC will also review “the universe of available information and transaction details.”

The initiative is designed to improve efforts by the SEC to “monitor risk, improve compliance, and inform Commission policy with respect to digital assets,” and will probe details of a wallet address, including identifying the owner.

Main objectives

• Convert the data into a reviewable format.
• Provide data extracts on a recurring basis for the most widely used blockchain ledgers, based on transaction volume.
• Provide capability to derive insights from the available data, including attribution data (i.e. to whom a
  particular address belongs).

While the SEC does not list which ledgers it will track, the majority of the top cryptocurrencies use blockchain, a distributed ledger that achieves consensus through mining. XRP, however, is not mined and uses a consensus ledger with a network of validators to transfer value.

According to data compiled by Bitinfocharts, here are the crypto ledgers with the highest transaction volumes in the last 24 hours.

1. XRP – 694,110 (44.8%)
2. Ethereum – 392,633 (25.3%)
3. Bitcoin – 334,312 (21.6%)
4. Ethereum Classic – 41,448 (2.7%)
5. Dogecoin – 25,723 (1.75%)
6. Litecoin – 21,704 (1.4%)
7. Dash – 11,358 (.7%)
8. Bitcoin Cash – 8,757 (.6%)
9. Bitcoin SV – 7,453 (.4%)
10. Monero – 2,750 (.2%)

The announcement calls for submissions from blockchain forensics experts who have developed sophisticated blockchain tracking tools. The deadline for submissions is February 14.