The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has set up a new cryptocurrency unit, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
The new unit will focus on money laundering and comes as AFP has seen a significant increase in crypto used in criminal activity, Stefan Jerga, national director of the AFP’s Criminal Asset Forfeiture Command, told AFR. AFP.
“It targets assets, but it also provides that valuable investigative tracing capability and purpose for all of our orders across all of our businesses, whether they are related to national security, child protection, cyber- or the ability to trace cryptocurrency transactions across relevant blockchains is really, really important,” Jerga said in the post.
The agency will not receive additional powers to seize assets, according to the article.
The AFP made a famous 2000% return in one of his first instances of crypto grabbing. In 2016, he began proceedings to seize around $5,000 worth of bitcoins – but by the time the force was able to get their hands on it, the value had risen to $105,000.
The new crypto unit is coming as Austrac, the Australian government’s financial intelligence agency, warns that cybercriminals operate the system.
Australia Deputy General Manager John Moss said cryptocurrencies were attractive to criminals because they could be used anonymously, quickly, and across international borders.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) recently announced that he explore use cases for central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of a new research project.
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