Federal Agencies Join Forces in New Darknet and Cryptocurrency Task Force

In an important transfer to fight felony actions each on the darknet and related to cryptocurrencies, a number of U.S. federal enforcement companies have joined forces to ascertain the Darknet Market and Digital Foreign money Crimes Activity Drive. The announcement was made public on June 20, indicating an intensifying concentrate on crimes, together with drug trafficking, cash laundering, baby exploitation, and theft of non-public information.

Who’s concerned within the job power?

Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) Arizona, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, the Inner Income Service (IRS) Felony Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service represent the main pillars of this job power. These companies have been collaborating since 2017, and their strengthened alliance formalizes their efforts to analyze crypto-enabled crimes and darknet actions.

In response to the brand new job power, the rise of digital currencies has offered new instruments for criminals to conduct illicit actions and launder cash. Expertise and the anonymity it usually gives have considerably sophisticated regulation enforcement’s purview, pushing companies to adapt their instruments, assets, and intelligence capabilities.

The first perform of the duty power will likely be to disrupt and dismantle felony organizations that exploit new applied sciences being in-built Web3 and the obscurity of the darknet. 

“HSI and our companions have been working on the forefront of combating felony actions facilitated by the usage of cryptocurrency on darkish net marketplaces and different nameless platforms,” stated HSI Arizona Particular Agent in Cost Scott Brown by way of a press release. “This job power may have impactful repercussions on these felony operators who try to develop their companies and launder the illicit proceeds by advancing know-how.”

Lately, the collaborating companies have efficiently investigated and prosecuted a number of important instances. These embody drug trafficking rings leveraging the darknet and crypto and people dealing in fentanyl and different medication on-line.

Altering with the instances

Notably, the Darknet Market and Digital Foreign money Crimes Activity Drive isn’t the one unit specializing in crypto-related crimes. The FBI established a Digital Asset Exploitation Unit in 2022, and the Justice Division has a Nationwide Cryptocurrency Enforcement Crew that has been round since 2021. Moreover, the Securities and Change Fee (SEC) considerably expanded its Cyber Unit final yr, mirrored by its latest crackdowns on the crypto trade.

The Darknet Market and Digital Foreign money Crimes Activity Drive represents the most recent step in an evolving technique to handle the challenges posed by the combination of digital currencies and the web into felony actions. Regulation enforcement companies worldwide, together with Interpol and native Canadian police forces, have additionally established specialised models to deal with these crimes.

Whereas this specific job power relies in Arizona, its efforts may have a world attain, given HSI’s worldwide footprint with 93 abroad areas in 56 international locations. With this coordinated method, U.S. regulation enforcement is sending a transparent message to those that exploit know-how for unlawful functions: they are often uncovered, prosecuted, and penalized.

Editor’s observe: This text was written by an nft now workers member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.