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U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco has announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be increasing efforts to address enforcement in the digital asset space with the formation of a new team.
Speaking at the Munich Cyber Security Conference on Thursday, Monaco said the FBI was creating a “specialized team dedicated to cryptocurrency” called the Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit. The unit will include crypto experts and will also have the capacity for blockchain analysis that could be used to track and seize illicit funds.
The formation of the FBI team comes more than four months after Monaco announced the launch of the Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. The two will be working together to pursue actors who “abuse cryptocurrency to commit crime.”
"Both will work together to prosecute actors who "use cryptocurrency in the commission of crimes." Ransomware and electronic extortion, like a lot of other cryptocurrency-driven crimes, it only works when the bad guys are paid, that means we need to break their business model,' said monaco.
The message to businesses is concrete: if you report to us, we can track the money and not only help you but hopefully warn the next victim." "money could be virtual, but the message to business is practical: if you report to us, we can follow the money and not only help you but hopefully prevent the next victim.”lisa monaco speaking at the munich cyber security conference on thursdaythe fbi is currently investigating 100 ransomware variants, that could lead to the possible seizure of cryptocurrencies by us authorities.
Prior to the creation of the Justice Department’s crypto enforcement team in October, a task force seized more than $2 million in crypto used to pay for ransom following an attack on the United States’ Colonial Pipeline system. In its largest seizure to date, the team took control of $3.6 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and ordered the arrest of two individuals connected to the 2016 hack of the Bitfinex exchange.
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In addition to the new FBI crypto team, Monaco announced her former senior counsel, Eun Young Choi, will head the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team as its director. Related: provide a sense of bitfinex bitcoin billionsin in addition to the new fbi crypto team, monaco announced its former senior counsel, eun youngster, lead the national cryptocurrency enforcement team as director.
