• National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team will be headed by Eun Young Choi
• The Virtual Asset Exploitation unit will be a part of the NCET
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a separate unit for cryptocurrency-related crimes.
The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), which was established in October 2021, will evaluate which types of crimes involving cryptocurrency might need more resources to investigate and prosecute these cases.
The NCET will be headed by Eun Young Choi who has worked for a decade as a prosecutor within the department and most recently served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General.
Also read: Crypto crime hits record high of $14 billion in 2021, mostly due to DeFi scams and thefts
Along with the announcement of the new Director of NCET, the Justice Department’s press release also mentioned the establishment of a Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit.
Virtual asset crime solving
The FBI’s new Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit will be “a specialized team of cryptocurrency experts dedicated to providing analysis, support, and training across the FBI, as well as innovating its cryptocurrency tools to stay ahead of future threats.”
The team will focus on crypto exchanges, mixers, tumblers, and other types of digital asset infrastructure providers that might allow for "the criminal misuse of cryptocurrencies," according to the release.
The unit will tie into the NCET’s own mission across the larger footprint of the Justice Department, which includes the FBI along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and other governmental agencies.
The unit’s formation comes after the Justice Department's largest-ever financial seizure earlier this month where a New York-based couple was arrested for allegedly laundering bitcoins, now valued at over $4.5 billion, that were stolen in the 2016 hack of the digital currency exchange Bitfinex.