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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that the FBI is launching a new unit dedicated to cryptocurrency matters across the bureau, including education and analysis. It also appointed its first director of its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). Reported by Business Insider, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco addressed the Munich Cyber Security Conference Thursday that the FBI’s Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit is creating a team with expertise in blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure. In a separate statement on Thursday, the DOJ elaborated on the NCET’s objectives. It said: “The NCET will identify, investigate, support and pursue the department’s cases involving the criminal use of digital assets, with a particular focus on virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, infrastructure providers, and other entities that are enabling the misuse of cryptocurrency and related technologies to commit or facilitate criminal activity.” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. said in the statement: “With the rapid innovation of digital assets and distributed ledger technologies, we have seen a rise in their illicit use by criminals who exploit them to fuel cyberattacks and ransomware and extortion schemes; traffic in narcotics, hacking tools and illicit contraband online; commit thefts and scams; and launder the proceeds of their crimes,” The appointment of NCET’s first director, Eun Young Choi, was also shared. Having served as senior counsel to Monaco, she was the lead prosecutor in the investigation of the J.P. Morgan Chase hack. Earlier in February, the DOJ was able to recover billions of dollars in Bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

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