Challenge #4: The Future of CryptoCurrency - A Rise in Crypto Policing
Challenge entry: A rise in crypto policing
Hello friends! Once again, it's my pleasure sharing my thoughts and opinion in participation of the ongoing steem crypto challenge. We're still on the future of cryptocurrencies and I'm going to be talking about an event that will inevitably increase in the cryptocurrencies' space in the future. This event is called 'cyber policing' but for easier explanation, I'll call it Crypto Policing.
From the onset, the desire for crypto was as a result of the rejection of a centralized state money system. This was why crypto was designed to be on a decentralized public database. This makes it possible for transactions to be made without bank accounts and without trace. Now, however wonderful this may seem, it also seems like a crime-supportive innovation. Cynthia Dion-Schwarz, David Manheim and Patrick B. Johnston, in a report they titled " Terrorists use of cryptocurrencies ", stated that
"Media reports have outlined the notion that some, or even many, terrorist organizations have unlimited, untraceable sources of digital money, such as Bitcoin"
To expatiate on how cryptocurrency can be a crime-supportive innovation, Let's have a look at the table below that shows the financial activities of a criminal organization
Terrorists' Organisation Financial Activities
Source
From the table above, we see that all the financial activities of terrorists organization can be enhanced by crypto. Whereas they may be unable to move large bundles of cash from one place to another, they can securely transfer funds via cryptocurrencies. Donations can also be made anonymously via cryptocurrencies and payments for illegal drugs and arms can be made securely and also anonymously via cryptocurrencies too. The table below shows the importance of cryptocurrencies to each of the major financial activities of these criminal organizations.
The Importance of Cryptocurrencies to Terrorists' Organisation Financial Activities
Terrorists groups like Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah and narcotics organizations need anonymous, readily available and secure means of funding. Considering that cryptocurrencies provide anonymity, security, usability and reliability, from the table above, it is clear how much potential cryptocurrencies have in supporting these terrorist organization.
This has been one of the major drawback of cryptocurrencies with most nations wary of this threat and as a result have been reluctant to veto the acceptance of crypto as a means of payments.
The benefits of cryptocurrencies however have spurred governments to put up a fight against the use of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities. They refused to forfeit the numerous benefits of cryptocurrencies because it could be used by criminals and instead decided to police the crypto space.
One country to achieve huge success in this regard is the United States. The United State Department of Justice, on Thursday, August 13th 2020, announced the dismantling of three terrorist financing cyber-enabled campaigns, involving the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, al-Qaeda, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) via their official website. They further stated that Each group used cryptocurrency and social media to garner attention and raise funds for their terror campaigns. Pursuant to judicially-authorized warrants, U.S. authorities seized millions of dollars, over 300 cryptocurrency accounts, four websites, and four Facebook pages all related to the criminal enterprise Source.
Some of the government apparatus involved in the success of the dismantling of these groups are, the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the prosecutors from the D.C. United States Attorney’s Office and National Security Division. Thus, the policing of the cryptocurrency space was executed with huge success.
Another success story was reported when investigations were undertaken by the UK’s South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit (SW RCCU) which led to the arrest of five men and one woman at their homes scattered within the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The thieves are accused of “typosquatting”: creating an imitation of popular exchange to persuade victims to send Bitcoins or their login details in order to steal their funds. The amount involved? More than €24 million worth of cryptocurrencies Source.
Although, currently law enforcers aren’t able to immediately identify the parties involved in a cryptocurrency transaction, but they can spot and study patterns in the movement of cryptocurrency to profile and de-anonymize suspects Source.
More crypto policing in the future
Expect more success stories of this nature in the future as more and more governments begin to take responsibility over cryptocurrencies in their region and to enact and enforce regulations on cryptocurrencies to manage their numerous benefits. Also expect governments to come up with a special unit of their judiciary akin to a police force to enforce regulatory laws in the crypto space.
Conclusion
With emerging technologies and techniques for combating cybercrimes, cryptocurrency policing is currently being carried out in some advanced countries, it's only a matter of time before this technologies and techniques get to the other countries. Then we'll see a rise in cryptocurrency policing around the globe. This is because governments welcome the benefits of cryptocurrencies and are determine to mitigate the challenges associated with them.
Refrencences:
Twitter share
https://twitter.com/ChuksShua/status/1319708726828388357?s=20
Even though it is anonymous, with little social engineering, the enforcement agencies establish a pattern and trace the funding with cryptos in criminal activities.
We just need to build a strong network all across the globe who can work closely with the developers of various blockchain networks and develop a protocol to prevent illegal exploitation of Blockchain technology.
#onepercent #india #affable
You right. Cyber criminals can be de-anonymized.
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