Internet Watch Foundation teams up with Elliptic to combat the use of bitcoin in online child pornography

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has announced its partnership with blockchain startup Elliptic to clamp down on the use of bitcoin in online child pornography.

The IWF, which is dedicated to eliminating child sexual abuse content worldwide, has provided its database of Bitcoin addresses associated with child sexual abuse content to Elliptic. Elliptic will integrate this unique data set into its transaction monitoring and investigation products, and will automatically alert financial institutions and law enforcement clients to proceeds of this illicit content. Elliptic works with the largest US and European bitcoin exchanges and payment processors, and provides key evidence to federal agencies in the US and Europe for major investigations involving Bitcoin – so is uniquely placed to take action.

“This is the first time anybody has started identifying these crimes in bitcoin and flagging them up in a system like ours. This is a great step towards our goal of getting rid of any sort of illicit activity in bitcoin,” said Elliptic CEO James Smith.

“Over the past few years, we have seen an increasing amount of bitcoin activity connected to purchasing child sexual abuse material online. Our new partnership with Elliptic is imperative to helping us tackle this,” said said IWF Chief Executive Susie Hargreaves.

In addition, Elliptic is working closely with IWF’s hotline team to implement joint best practices for identifying and preserving evidence of illicit Bitcoin activity.