A recently released US Justice Department audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) practices in relation to darknet criminal investigations concluded that the law enforcement agency was in disorder – and that a universal “cryptocurrency support strategy” might be among the answers.
According to an unclassified version of the audit released Thursday, the FBI’s current darknet investigation efforts – perhaps ironically – are hampered by a “decentralized” set of practices, policies, and training programs, as well as a shared intelligence that n leads to “unnecessary” efforts. .
Notably, the audit found that there are two separate Virtual Currency Teams that assist with dark investigations, both of which are funded by the DoJ Asset Forfeiture Fund. In addition, “rising costs and static funding from the Asset Forfeiture Fund led to disagreement between these two Virtual Currency Teams on the prioritization of resources”, and many felt that the two Teams were overlapping.
The Asset Forfeiture Fund receives a portion of its funding through the seizure and sale of property and assets, including cryptocurrency, involved in criminal investigations.
The DoJ made five recommendations to improve darknet’s investigations and policies, many of which focus on centralizing procedures to reduce “ambiguous or overlapping investigative responsibilities”.
This includes a recommendation to “Develop timelines for feedback from the remaining FBI divisions and complete its development of the FBI-wide cryptocurrency support strategy”, and the report noted that such a timeline forthcoming.
The DoJ’s recommendations come at a time when the FBI would soon have more work on its hands due to new regulations. The Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network recently proposed new rules that would require their customers to be exchanged to KYC for transactions over $ 3,000.