UK aims to tackle cryptocurrency crime with new department

The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) has set up a dedicated branch to focus on crime involving crypto-currencies.

https://twitter.com/wizcap/status/1611100107885391872

Crypto branch

It will be named National Cyber Crime Unit Crypto Cell. The NCA announces that the team consists of five officers working out of the cybercrime team NCCU. A spokesperson says this new team shows that the NCA wants to fight crypto-crime and regulate crypto-currencies.

This is evident from a recent job posting. The government organisation plans to "proactively take the lead" in identifying potential targets for further investigation. They also want to provide assistance in ongoing and future investigations where expertise in analysing money flows involving cryptocurrencies is required.

According to the NCA spokesperson, it is common for cryptocurrencies to be used in online crime.

Remarkably, the Dutch Scientific Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) recently came up with a different conclusion. In particular, they saw that bitcoin was NOT popular for criminal transactions on Telegram. You can read more about this on Bitcoin Focus.

Forensic investigation

Back to the UK. The civil service is accepting applications for the new position until 10 January at the latest. You must have experience in forensic blockchain investigation. Should you be hired, you can expect a salary of $48,200 to $52,400 a year.

The UK Parliament passed the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill in September. This gave the police force a wider scope to tackle crime involving cryptocurrencies.

In addition, the National Crime Agency increased the amount they seized cryptocurrencies to around £27 million for the fiscal year 2021-22. The year before that was ... zero.
https://www.indexuniverse.eu/uk-aims-to-tackle-cryptocurrency-crime-with-new-department/