If true, then all they're doing is analysis of data from the public blockchain. That sounds fine to me - the feds could have done it themselves.
Where's that coming from? Maybe other unspecified "public" sources.
It seems suspicious though, like they are getting it from geolocating IP addresses of their users, and correlating those to transactions -- that is not public info at all. But perhaps they get the geolocation info from some other source unrelated to their users?
Personally if my bank was also in the business of spying on financial transactions commercially... I wouldn't feel super secure about my choice of bank.
That gives you a clue where the user is located.
Are you aware that your (bank-issued) credit card purchase data is almost certainly sold commercially, linked to a unique identifier?
There's companies that buy mobile advertising data and crosslink it to credit card purchase data to track real-world conversions from online advertising.
I say this to reinforce your suspicions, not to discredit them.
source: I run a competitor to Tracer (https://luabase.com/)
2 points :
1. doing analysis form public sources when you can cheat by looking up private information is a very different beast.
2.parallel construction
Let them do it themselves then. Usually “if I don’t do it, someone else will” is an ethically dubious excuse, though it is a good way to make money I suppose