The US government is taking on cryptocurrencies.

The U.S. Department of Justice has appointed a Computer Crime Attorney to lead a team to fight cryptocurrencies. On Thursday, it was also announced that the FBI is launching a unit to analyze the blockchain and seize virtual assets.

Blockchain analysis is the process of exploring, identifying, grouping, modeling and visualizing data in a cryptographic ledger. The purpose of blockchain analysis is to obtain useful information about various entities that carry out transactions with cryptocurrency.

The creation of a new division of the FBI follows the largest financial forfeiture in history by the Department of Justice. Young couple Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan have been accused of trying to launder more than $4.5 billion stolen in 2016 from the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange.

“Law enforcement officials seized $3.6 billion of those funds. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco called this the largest financial forfeiture in Justice Department history.

Following a series of cyberattacks in 2021 on America’s largest fuel pipeline network and the world’s largest beef supplier, US regulators tightened their grip on the cryptocurrency industry. In recent years, as a result of attacks on virtual currency exchanges, hackers have collected hundreds of millions of dollars at a time. They often demand a ransom in bitcoins. The FBI was able to trace and recover some of these ransoms.

“Cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology, in which it is difficult to change records once added,” Reuters emphasizes.

At the Munich Cybersecurity Conference, the Monaco prosecutor announced that prosecutor Eun Yong Choi will lead the cryptocurrency law enforcement team. He was pursuing a case against a Russian hacker who helped steal information on more than 80 million JPMorgan & Chase Co. clients.

Most recently, Choi worked as a senior advisor in Monaco. She also worked as a cybercrime coordinator and assistant prosecutor in New York for nearly a decade.

“We strongly warn criminals who use cryptocurrencies for their business. (…) We also call on all crypto companies: we want you to root out crypto scams. .

He also announced the creation of a new international virtual currency initiative. She assured her that her ministry would actively combat cyber threats.