London Police Brings a 40-Member Unit to Tackle Crypto Criminals

• The London Police has brought a 40-member team to tackle the illicit usage of cryptocurrencies
• The team was created in May and has since responded to 74 intelligence referrals, resulting in 19 active cases.
• The fall in the price of crypto coins hasn’t affected their usage for illicit purposes, an officer said.
• “The evidence suggests an endemic role of cryptocurrency in organized crime,” another officer said.

The London Police is set to crackdown on crimes implemented using cryptocurrencies and has introduced a 40-member team for the purpose, according to a report. The territorial police force believes that digital assets play an “endemic role” in organized crime, and therefore, the need to combat the growing illicit activity in the crypto space is a must

As per a Financial Times report, the London Police has set up a 40-member team to tackle criminals using cryptocurrencies to further their agenda. The London Metropolitan Police, which is the largest police force in the United Kingdom (UK), has ramped up its efforts to tackle crime in the digital asset space over the years

Detective Inspector Geoff Donoghue of the London Police’s crypto investigation team noted that “crypto was once considered a niche within criminal enterprises, but there has been growing evidence that is no longer the case,” while adding:

“Cryptocurrencies give a new dimension to the settlement of value transfer . . . everywhere that we have looked, we have found [crypto]. The evidence is suggesting an endemic role of cryptocurrency in organized crime.”

Interestingly, the crypto team was created in May and, since then, has responded to 74 intelligence referrals, which has now resulted in 19 active criminal cases. Donoghue noted that there has been significant evidence of crypto being used in fields involving “drugs, guns, girls, and workers.”

The London Police’s focus on digital assets comes at a time when the broader crypto industry is facing increased scrutiny from regulators around the globe. Recently,the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) revealed a new Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) that introduced strict instructions for crypto mixers to follow. The rulemaking requires firms engaging in crypto activities to report any transaction that might’ve been involved with mixers

Interestingly, Mat Stanley, a cyber detective at the London Police, noted that the fall in the price of digital assets and the bear market did not affect the illicit usage of cryptocurrencies, which is still on the rise.

“We’ve sat through a couple of crashes now . . . but if you’re buying £100 of drugs, you don’t care if that costs one bitcoin or 0.1 bitcoin,” Stanley said.