Skip to main content

Illicit Cryptocurrency Use Targeted in Proposed 2018 FBI Budget

The FBI is requesting $21m and 80 new employees in a bid to investigate emerging tech that could help the agency combat cybercrime.
In a budget request for fiscal year 2018, sent on 21st June, Andrew McCabe, acting director of the FBI, testified to the White House that the agency is facing what it believes are significant challenges in gaining access to digital information – even when it has the legal authority to do so. This notably includes cases that involve "drug traffickers using virtual currencies to obscure their transactions".
It is also the same narrative that the FBI's former Director James Comey put forth last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The challenge, the agency has said, is that the FBI now requires more financial resources to investigate technologies and decipher information transmitted on the darknet. Elsewhere, it is also engaging in dialogues with companies that provide such technology to educate them on the "corrosive effects" that information inaccessibility has on "public safety and the rule of law".
Earlier this year, the privacy-encrypted digital currency Monero (XMR), for example, drew attention from FBI for similar reasons.
A special agent working at the FBI's Cyber Division in New York City said at an event that the agency has concerns such technology will set roadblocks for criminal investigations.
"Developing alternative technical methods is typically a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process," the agency said.
For more information follow the link below:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Duncan Logan just tweeted that he's on board Electroneum

I have been a buyer and holder of bitcoin and Etherreum for a long time but this will be the first ICO I buy into--Duncan Logan.

What is Electroneum?

Electroneum (ETN) is a cryptocurrency that can be mined with a smartphone, requiring almost no technical knowledge or prior experience. This sets it apart from other cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) which require expensive hardware and technical know-how to mine.
Electroneum’s unique mobile mining experience allows anyone with a smartphone to earn ETN coins by letting the miner app run in the background.
It was designed specifically with mobile users in mind, thereby appealing to a potential market of 2.2 billion smartphone users around the world. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Electroneum has a user-friendly, beginner-oriented interface that allows users to seamlessly transfer ETN coins between one another, check their balances, and mine coins.
Being a cryptocurrency, Electroneum is created, held, and spent electronically, and has no phy…
Post a Comment
Read more

Case-By-Case or Cease-and-Desist? In Search Of a New Approach to ICOs

That rumble you hear is the sound of regulators around the world mobilizing resources to tackle the pressing matter of token sales. Yet, in spite of the spectacular growth of blockchain token-based funding, no one seems to have a clear idea of what type of rules to introduce. The resulting uncertainty (not to mention ridicule) is left hindering progress as money flows to unviable projects and investors are left vulnerable to foul play – exactly what regulation is supposed to prevent. Perhaps a new approach is needed. But to see where this could go, it's worth stepping back and asking what we expect the regulation to do. Safety belt First, why do we need regulation, not just of finance, but of anything at all? To protect us. At its roots, that is the main role of government – to protect its citizens from avoidable harm and extreme loss brought about by others or from our own lack of common sense. When it comes to securities, that usually means stopping us from making poor decisions…
Post a Comment
Read more

Suddenly, Bitcoin to Be Officially Legal in India

Leading Bitcoin exchange Zebpay has revealed that the Indian government committee has ruled in favor of regulating Bitcoin. On April 14, Cointelegraph reported that the Inter-Disciplinary Committee within India’s Ministry of Finance was actively investigating the legal status of Bitcoin and considering the possibility of regulating the market. Efforts of Indian Bitcoin exchanges Over the past three years, the big three Indian Bitcoin exchanges including Zebpay, Coinsecureand Unocoin operated with self-regulated trading platforms with strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering systems in place, despite the lack of regulations in the digital currency industry and market. The efforts of the Bitcoin exchanges in India to self-regulate the market allowed the Indian government to reconsider the Bitcoin and digital currency sectors, regardless of the criticisms by several politicians that significantly lack knowledge in cryptocurrency. On March 24, Cointelegraph reported that…
Post a Comment
Read more