Crypto Currency Regulation and Law Enforcement Perspectives

TL;DR

This paper explores the intersection of cryptocurrency regulation, law enforcement challenges, and the potential of privacy features to enhance security and combat crime, based on interviews and analysis of crypto-related illicit activities.

Contribution

It offers a new classification of crypto-related crimes and discusses how cryptography and privacy can be leveraged to improve security and law enforcement efforts.

Findings

Most crypto users are amateur investors.

Investment scams dominate crypto crime.

Privacy features can enhance security and combat crime.

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of how crypto currency and blockchain engineering interacts with the law enforcement. We point out that a large proportion of crypto users are amateur investors and the dominant and the largest segment in crypto crime are simply investment scams (!). We look at various questions of criminal use and misuse of technology, especially in the areas of money laundering or cashing out the profits originating from illicit activities. The aim of the paper is to raise a set of concerns arising in the criminal justice and policing circles, based on the interviews with law enforcement practitioners, and to see how cryptos could be reconciled with public security and safety. We propose a simplified classification of crimes related to crypto currency. We study the development of blockchains in a broader context of applied cryptography and payment technology. Ransomware is a big threat but we also need protection against corporate misconduct or negligence, with untested financial services breaching customer trust or government regulations. Not paying taxes is illegal, but there is more at stake: exposing crypto holders to losing all their savings in scams or thefts. Interestingly, privacy helps to defend on multiple fronts: against social engineering, targeted crime, scams, and also against cybersecurity thefts and hacks.