Bitcoin's big secret: How cryptocurrency became law enforcement's secret weapon
At the 2025 Bitwarden Open Source Security Summit, WIRED's Andy Greenberg sat down for a fireside chat with GigaOm analyst Paul Stringfellow to discuss a revelation that turned his decades-long reporting on its head: Bitcoin became a criminal's worst nightmare:
In 2011, Greenberg thought he'd discovered the story of a lifetime: digital cash that promised complete anonymity. A decade later, that story flipped entirely.
"I had this slow-motion epiphany that I was entirely wrong about Bitcoin. It was, in fact, the opposite of untraceable."
But here's the paradox: if cryptocurrency tracing is so powerful, why do ransomware attacks, pig butchering scams, and North Korean hackers continue to steal billions?
The answer: identifiability isn't the same as accountability.
Tags: accountability prosecutions law policing bitcoin cryptocurrency andy-greenberg crime anonymity