DOJ Asks For International Cooperation In Catching Crypto Criminals

The DOJ asks for International cooperation in catching crypto criminals according to a report sent to President Joe Biden by the attorney general which came as a response to the executive order so let’s read more today in our latest cryptocurrency news.

The US Federal Government Chief Lawyer, Merrick Garland asked for more international cooperation to help protect investors, businesses, and consumers that use digital assets. The department of Justice report, compiled alongside other agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and the US SEC, calls for sharing more information with the law fnrocement agencies across the world since better collaboration, can help avoid duplicative efforts that waste investigative resources. The attorney general’s report came as a response to the executive order issued by the President of the USA whcih asked federal agencies to research digital assets with intuition to draft federal legislation.

Crimes facilitated using crypto are often harder to prosecute than those that are wrapped up in paper currencies adding that the criminals leverage the innovation, claims of decentralized, and the anonymizing features of the cryptocurrencies to facilitate criminal conduct all around the world. Most crimes like money laundering, ransomware, and evading sanctions can be completed faster with cryptocurrencies because they don’t go through traditional financial intermediaries that often have rules in place to flag suspicious transactions.

Because blockchain-based transactions are recorded on distributed ledgers and available on the internet, it can create more opportunities for law enforcement officers to follow the money that is possible with traditional financial systems’ methods. The US Crypto laws are a work in progress and vary state by state. One big sticking point is whether the federal governmetn decides to treat crypto like securities or commodities. The DOJ asks for international cooperation from agencies worldwide as they are prosecuting people for crimes involving crypto but the recent assessment only shows how the US can work with other countries in prosecuting criminal organizations.

OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said that there were some suspicious NFT trades made by the former executive that was “misframed” as insider trading but today, the Department of Justice, the DOJ charged ex OpenSea Nate Chastain with insider trading. The FBI and the DOJ arrested and charged Nate Chastain who is a former OpenSea product managed with money laundering and wire fraud for alleged trades that he made using insider knowledge of which the NFT collections were going to be featured on the homepage of the marketplace.