Weiss Ratings: anonymous cryptocurrencies will help counter citizen tracking measures

Cryptocurrencies with privacy-enhancing features can help people who want to protect themselves fromAttemptsauthorities to introduce mass tracing amid an outbreak of coronavirus, analysts at the cryptocurrency unit of Weiss Ratings analytic agency said.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, whichmore than one million people worldwide have already been infected, authorities in several countries, including China, Russia, Israel, Singapore and South Korea, have announced various plans to track citizens.

This is done to verify compliancequarantine, however, privacy advocates are already sounding the alarm, saying that such measures may well remain in force, even if the COVID-19 pandemic can be curbed.

Weiss Crypto Ratings shares these concerns.

"Some governments are takingunprecedented action in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus. They’re using the pandemic to enhance their tracking capabilities, and the dire consequences of such measures can survive the current global emergency situation. ”Weiss Crypto Ratings said.

Analysts believe that in these conditions, when"Privacy and anonymity have become a rarity these days," the demand for so-called private cryptocurrencies should grow, and they themselves "can become a new unique way of self-defense."

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South Korean authorities, for example, have developeda system that allows you to determine whether a person was in close contact with the carrier of the virus. For this, among a whole set of measures, the history of transactions made using bank cards is also used.

Another popular tracking method isdetermination of the geolocation of citizens. Such measures, inter alia, were introduced in Moscow, but Google’s recent announcement of its intention to publish geolocation data of its many users around the world sounds even more alarming, although the company itself claims that personal data will not be disclosed.