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- US Feds’ New Task Force Targets Darknet Markets - July 14, 2023
A ground-breaking task force has been established by federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, the Office of US Attorneys, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Postal Inspection Service, to tackle cryptocurrency and Dark Web market crimes. A key development in their cooperative efforts was the recent approval of a pact to combine their resources.
New Task Force Bolsters Fight Against Darknet Markets and Digital Currency Crimes
A number of regulatory steps have been taken by US government authorities over the last year, including the creation of the Darknet Marketplace and Digital Currency Crimes Task Force, which was announced in the memorandum on June 15. These moves include the SEC filing litigation against the two largest exchanges, Coinbase and Binance, as well as crackdowns on unregistered securities and crypto mixing services. New tax regulations for disclosing income earned from cryptocurrencies have also been introduced.
The task force’s main goal, according to the Department of Justice’s news release, is to improve coordination, devote more resources, and dismantle criminal organizations that take advantage of cutting-edge technologies like the Tor Network, cryptocurrencies, and other anonymity-enhancing software. It will focus on certain crimes including child abuse, identity theft, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces will supervise associated prosecutions with an emphasis on breaking up high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and international criminal organizations. Against criminal networks, this task force employs a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency strategy that makes the most of the abilities of federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations.
The task team will aggressively pursue and expose drug traffickers operating on the Darknet, according to DEA Special Agent Cheri Oz in a news release from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The press release also emphasized the task force’s distinctive investigative competence, which had previously been absent in the government, and suggested that it may be more successful than other task forces and agencies now in place to fight these crimes.