Crypto and the FBI

[JessicaVL]

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray stated that cryptocurrency is a “significant issue” that is going to become a “bigger and bigger” problem for law enforcement, specifically the FBI. the FBI’s main goal is to protect and defend the United States, and to uphold and enforce criminal laws in the nation. They serve to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, municipal, state, and international agencies. So, what’s the deal with crypto and the FBI? Let’s dive in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6HktJUExWM

The hearing
What do we know about crypto and the FBI?

In a hearing in front of the US Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee in November, Wray responded to questions from Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney, about cryptocurrency, terrorist deterrence and law enforcement, and how the three intertwine.

According to Wray, the FBI are looking at cryptocurrency “from an investigative perspective, including tools that we have to follow the money even in this new world that we’re living in.”

Romney led with a line of questioning that looked at how cryptocurrency could facilitate terrorist financing, which Wray seemed to support, saying that adversaries of the US are becoming “more facile with technology and particular various types of technology that anonymize their efforts.”

Wray touched on other aspects of encryption technology, and said:

“Whether its cryptocurrency, whether it’s default encryption on devices and messaging platforms; we are moving as a country and world in a direction where if we don’t get our act together money, people, communication, evidence, facts, all the bread and butter for all of us to do our work will be essentially walled off from the men and women we represent.”

https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1191822557135212545

According to a 2018 report, the FBI are investigating roughly 180 cases involving cryptocurrency, ranging from issues involving ransomware to human trafficking. In May 2019, the FBI shut down DeepDotWeb, a dark web marketplace that offered services in exchange for some cryptocurrencies.

Wray concluded his interview, saying that the FBI already had their collective eye on cryptocurrencies, and that they have the tools “to try and follow the money.” The FBI director also noted that the US will need to keep up with advancements in crypto technology, or will find itself “walled off.”

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6HktJUExWM

Still, what we can tell from this hearing is that crypto is just as secure, and traded, as ever. Marketplaces like Vertex.Market have offerings where you can get in on coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum - allowing you to trade and keep your money away from the prying eyes of the FBI.

FBI follows the money
When it comes to crypto and the FBI, there’s a lot of tension. According to Wray, the US has significant cause for concern when it comes to crypto and encryption technologies. It has to be said that shady cryptocurrency dealings aren’t the norm, contrary to what many of the general population seem to think.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/crypto-and-the-fbi-f004f3c32d73

[o48o]

I am seriously baffled why it is a problem, cash is way more anonymous and i am not seeing fbi ranting about the dangers of anonymous fiat cash. Maybe they are though but it's not newsworthy and don't get reported.

[ansi]

They keep bullshting people about this. Fiat is the main currency for Money Laundering, but hey it's all because of cryptos...
The financial institutions will eventually have this fight with cryptos sooner or later, they can't digest the fact that cryptos is the future of money.

[Lagduf]

They keep bullshting people about this. Fiat is the main currency for Money Laundering, but hey it's all because of cryptos...
The financial institutions will eventually have this fight with cryptos sooner or later, they can't digest the fact that cryptos is the future of money.

They must make a comparison between how much fiat monet that used to do money laundering rather than cryptocurrency. I think FBI gets an order for that from the bankers lol
it doesn't make sense when everything that related to the illegal activities will always be related to the cryptocurrency. FBI is always trying to connect something that must not be the case of crypto with crypto.
FBI is also a tool from the government  too and it's not a new thing when they will never think fiat money is the main problem

[JeffBrad12]

I am seriously baffled why it is a problem, cash is way more anonymous and i am not seeing fbi ranting about the dangers of anonymous fiat cash. Maybe they are though but it's not newsworthy and don't get reported.

there's no way a seller shouting that their product are bad same way as FBI which is government's hand will not state such a thing unless they are trying to make people worry by revealing the truth. Although if being compared, the uses of fiat will definitely takes up a big portion but they are still turning their face and act blind about it. more or less that's what people expected anyway.

[Jating]

I am seriously baffled why it is a problem, cash is way more anonymous and i am not seeing fbi ranting about the dangers of anonymous fiat cash. Maybe they are though but it's not newsworthy and don't get reported.

It is a problem for them because they can't really control it and they believed that it is being abuse by criminals like terrorist and illegal drug traders.

On the contrary, FBI should step up their thing here, they have billions of budget at their disposal. And there are a lot of companies today which they can tap, like https://ciphertrace.com/ if they want to track transactions.

[Adriano2010]

Not this is the main the problem, the main problem is there are a lot of people who take money to cover the bad things on world and this will continue as long as there are a lot of people who want fast money and work as law enforcement.

[Bonwin]

They should sanctions their own citizens entirely from investing in crypto, not for then to come and say that crypto is the major problem to them. They had better say that they have their personal reservation about crypto and not what theft are saying now. Well, they should continue with their work. It is appreciated, but not enough to start saying that it will be more compounded.

[duuuuude]

If the United States authorities did not shove their hands wherever they need to be shoved and did not start a war themselves, then there would be no terrorism. The black market has existed before and will continue to exist on this issue of payment is not the most important here.

[TimeTeller]

If the United States authorities did not shove their hands wherever they need to be shoved and did not start a war themselves, then there would be no terrorism. The black market has existed before and will continue to exist on this issue of payment is not the most important here.

Black market already existed a long time ago even before crypto was born.
Though crypto will be another good option to use in the black market.
But if they can't resolve the problem before even without crypto in the scene, then, why would they blame the emergence of crypto for this aspect?
Are they just looking for another reason not to make crypto in the good light?

[Aabcde]

I do not understand why in this case such crypto is to blame. Though only users who blame its use is not a tool (crypto).
In fact, also in fiat many people who commit crimes such as the purchase of drugs, money laundering, gambling, bribery, terrorist financing, purchasing illegal weapons, horrible project funding, and many others.
I don't think it makes sense to blame crypto, especially bitcoin at that time until now. Because out there are still many useful activities that use bitcoin as a transaction tool.
These people just want to find a way to drop and take over crypto, maybe that's what comes to my mind.

[o48o]

I am seriously baffled why it is a problem, cash is way more anonymous and i am not seeing fbi ranting about the dangers of anonymous fiat cash. Maybe they are though but it's not newsworthy and don't get reported.

It is a problem for them because they can't really control it and they believed that it is being abuse by criminals like terrorist and illegal drug traders.

On the contrary, FBI should step up their thing here, they have billions of budget at their disposal. And there are a lot of companies today which they can tap, like https://ciphertrace.com/ if they want to track transactions.

Yeah, but they can't control physical cash either. You literally don't even need internet to move it even though it's harder, it's totally anonymous. Yet while they can't control the blockchain, it is an open ledger that they can track so i can't see why they complain.

[michellee]

I won't be surprised if the FBI is telling the bad things about crypto to people because they don't like crypto or they don't learn anything about crypto so they can easily say like that. But if they can know what crypto is, I don't think they will easy to say that, and I think they will follow our journey in the crypto. They can say anything about crypto, but they cannot prevent the people's power, and if somehow, people still use crypto for many things, they cannot do anything.

[andika2018]

If cryptocurrency began to be adopted and accepted at merchants as a means of payment, I think it's fair that the American government is upset. During this time the American government enjoyed a free lunch because of the dominance of the dollar on the world market as an international transaction tool. If there is a weakening state or dollar dominance, in my opinion this is due to the mistakes of the American government itself which is too selling off debt and always printing money