I think it's still just pseudo-anonymity, even for monero. Which means, practically, that I don't think it would have done more for these guys than just delay the seizure.
There is no safe, only shades of safer.
Is the mathematical underpinnings of Monero sound? That's a good starting point. There are still implementation bugs, compiler bugs, architecture bugs, supply chain vulnerabilities, and state actors with unlimited $.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2020/09/14/irs...
There is a literal virtual tumbler built into the transaction protocol called ring signatures.
Stealth addresses (an additional crypto key pair) obfuscate senders and receivers.
They also hide the amount transferred which blew my mind.
This is certainly not a given. The government isn’t going to be cracking signal messages within any reasonable timeframe either.
Nope.
Monero, ZCash, and mimblewimble-based cryptos (grin, beam) are certainly not pseudo-anonymous, and tracking is darn near impossible if the users don't do anything stupid.