The US enforcement agencies have taken an important step in combating darknet- and digital currency-related crimes by forming the Darknet Marketplace and Digital Currency Crimes Task Force on June 20. This organization will focus on tackling cryptocurrency-enabled crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, theft of personal information, and child exploitation.
As part of the initiative, representatives from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Arizona, the Office for U.S. Attorneys, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Postal Inspection Service signed a memorandum of understanding last week.
Since 2017, law enforcement agencies across the world have been setting up specialized units to tackle crypto-related crimes. For example, Interpol launched a crypto crimes unit in late 2020, and police in Canada are forming local task forces. The new US task force will have an international reach, as the HSI has 93 overseas locations in 56 countries.
Additionally, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation formed its Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit in February 2021, which will work with the Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. The Securities and Exchange Commission also nearly doubled its Cyber Unit last year.
Chainalysis estimates that over 4,000 crypto whales hold illegally obtained funds, and crypto phishing attacks increased by 40% in 2020. Nevertheless, there are signs that law enforcement efforts are proving successful.
