Bitcoin Forum

https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/irs-ci-deploys-4-cyber-attaches-to-locations-abroad-to-combat-cybercrime
"WASHINGTON — IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) will launch a pilot program in June where cyber attachés will deploy to four continents across the globe to combat cybercrime, focusing on tax and financial crimes that use cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, peer-to-peer payments and mixing services. The four individuals tapped to serve as cyber attachés have significant expertise investigating cybercrime and will work with IRS-CI's law enforcement counterparts in Asia, Europe, South America and Australia.

The cyber attachés will deploy to Sydney, Australia; Bogota, Colombia; Frankfurt, Germany; and Singapore for a 120-day detail which takes place from June to September 2023.

"In order to effectively combat cybercrime, we need to ensure that our foreign counterparts have access to the same tools and expertise we have here in the United States," said IRS-CI Chief Jim Lee. "This summer, four of our most-skilled special agents will deploy to strategic locations on four continents to ensure that we can continue to build relationships and effectively combat cybercrime on a global scale.""

Are these actually combat training officers to tackle cyber criminals, or are they actually focusing and training them to focus on crypto currency traders together with their taxand holders? Because that's how the entire story looks to me. All this cyber criminal thing gained popularity after the introduction of Bitcoin and other crypto currency, which made criminals and other illegal salesmen turn it into their point of payment, but that does not mean the Fed should turn all their agents on those using Bitcoin and other crypto currency. I can't even recall reading about a lot of tasks being set outside to tackle other forms of crime these days. It seems like all the governments are now after those in crypto, both the good and the bad guys.

It is unfortunate that this is an effort to clamp down and suppress the numbers of users of decentralised cryptocurrency like bitcoin. The government will never stop at nothing to push for control of people's finance, this is the debacle but the government won't focus on other human related cybercrimes like  bullying, security by terrorists groups, child pornography and sexual exploitation and manipulation. These are all cybercrimes , I think the government has to also focus on the high rate of crime and insecurity and not just the online crypto trading business before we have another SEP 11.

Yes, I completely agree with you on this point. The United States has enough problems, crimes and racism that have shaken American society, so it is better to be preoccupied with it than to fight Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, which cannot be compared to the damage caused by these crimes.

Unfortunately, this is what the United States is trying to do, as if Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have become the number one enemy of humanity.

The United States has not satisfied itself with its hostility to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but is trying to transfer this hostility outside its territory and spread it around the world so that it becomes a global phenomenon.

Based on the news these cybercrime experts will be deployed to train others on how to combat tax and financial crimes and I guess it is a good move. If they intend to ensure that criminal activities are minimized in the crypto environment, it is a good move. But if they intend to promote centralization and the clampdown of legitimate crypto operations, I condemn it.

I wonder how they will be able to identify these illegal P2p payments without invading the privacy of people. I see this move as a clear academic exercise because it will not yield anything fruitful. These nations are sovereign therefore the implementation of knowledge from this training will have to be rectified by the legislatures.

I wouldn't say that unambiguously because bitcoin has been hugely developed in the US. It or its derivatives were traded on many American exchanges.
The IRS wants all people who are required to pay taxes to do so. And there has always been a lot of attention to crimes that threaten the national security of the country.

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/07/australias-tax-office-tells-crypto-exchanges-to-hand-over-transaction-details-of-12-million-accounts-reuters/

Australia’s Tax Office Tells Crypto Exchanges to Hand Over Transaction Details of 1.2 Million Accounts: Reuters
"The ATO said the data will help identify traders who failed to report their cryptocurrency-related activities.
Australia’s tax office will force cryptocurrency exchanges to provide personal and transaction details of 1.2 million traders.
The regulator is attempting to crack down on people trying to avoid paying their tax liabilities."

Their probably investigators that has a field expertise with cybercrime or cyber money laundering, I don't think that combat is ever any part of these, pretty sure that this is just mostly training to investigate online financial crimes, it's a good thing that they're doing this too because that means that money laundering would only get more difficult for most of these syndicates and even the easiest way now becomes watched by these investigators. Only a matter of time before we snuff out all of these cybercriminals using cryptocurrency to launder their money, I just hope that in their crusade to end these syndicates, the privacy of the innocent individuals wouldn't be trampled with or pass off as a casualty.