As the crypto and blockchain space investigates seemingly private solutions for payments and messaging, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, has had the backdoor to one of the world'south major encryption systems since Globe War 2.

Offset in WWII, Swiss company Crypto AG operated as a seemingly neutral party that adult encrypted communications solutions for over 120 unlike countries over much of the by century, The Washington Post revealed in a February. 11 exposé.

Crypto AG was not what it seemed

Behind the scenes of the seemingly Swiss visitor sat CIA and German underground service group BND, the truthful owners of Crypto AG, monitoring all communications as a hidden tertiary party.

The systems and solutions Crypto AG sold to various countries tipped off the U.Southward. and Westward Germany to immeasurable individual data related to events such as the Islamic republic of iran earnest state of affairs in 1979 and the Falklands War, The Washington Post detailed.

The two spy agencies initially called the mission "Thesaurus," but somewhen renamed it "Rubicon."

The mission continued all the way until 2022

Together, the CIA and BND kept its reconnaissance operation upward and running until the early 1990s, The Post said, when the BND sold its share of Crypto AG to the CIA.

Running solo, the CIA continued the Crypto AG performance until 2022, when technological advancements rendered the endeavor unnecessary.

The U.Southward. has kept up its snooping though. Cryptocurrency advocate Edward Snowden outed the U.S. National Security Agency, or NSA, with his evidence of the authorities's infringement on global privacy.

Privacy in the crypto and blockchain space

In the crypto and blockchain space, numerous projects aim to provide privacy-related solutions for payments and messaging.

Bearding digital assets, such every bit Monero and Zcash, aim to cover user transactions. Encrypted messaging platforms such as Telegram, with its TON blockchain, await to add privacy to the communication world.

Many crypto and blockchain solutions at present confront lawsuits from U.S. authorities agencies. Telegram is currently fighting action from the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, for conducting what the regulator calls an unregistered offering.

Cointelegraph reached out to the CIA for additional details, but received no response every bit of press fourth dimension. This article will be updated accordingly should a response come up in.