Interpol Announces a New Unit to Investigate Crimes Related to Cryptocurrencies and the Dark Web

Cryptocurrency and cybercrime will be the main topic of discussion at INTERPOL's conference in Delhi, where dark web criminals have moved to the crypto ecosystem and the prevalence of crypto-crime is at an all-time high and getting worse every day. INTERPOL is determined to combat this new financial scourge. Interpol reportedly intends to create a specialized unit to combat crimes involving cryptocurrencies, Web3 and DeFi markets.

Interpol's 90th Congress to be held in Delhi, India

The 90th General Assembly of Interpol will be held from Tuesday to Friday and will be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself in Delhi, as well as delegations from 195 Interpol member countries, including ministers, national police chiefs, National Central Bureau of Investigation (NCB) heads and senior police officers.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Congress, during which cybercrime, organized crime and crypto-crime will be discussed, as well as financial fraud and child sexual abuse through the dark web.

The Interpol General Assembly is the highest governing body and meets once a year to make key decisions related to its operations. General Assembly meetings are held in India after about 25 years, the last being held in 1997.

Interpol Secretary General Stoker announces new department

Ahead of the 90th Congress, INTERPOL Secretary-General Jürgen Stock announced that the world's largest police force, with 195 member countries, will establish a specialized unit in Singapore to assist countries around the world in the fight against crimes involving virtual assets, including dark web crimes.

Stock said at a press conference that the lack of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum poses significant difficulties for law enforcement agencies. Stork said cryptocurrencies and cybercrime (dark web crime) will be a major topic of discussion at Interpol's conference in India.

Stork said: "Because often, law enforcement agencies are not properly trained and properly equipped …… cryptocurrencies are becoming a major threat on a global scale: the ICPO Global Innovation Centre in Singapore is working on a mechanism to address the challenges from these countries. "

Praveen Sinha, Special Director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), reiterated that monitoring cybercrime has become increasingly challenging. In addition, he stressed the importance of Interpol in establishing and promoting global police cooperation. The Indian official said, "The only answer is international cooperation, coordination, trust and real-time information sharing."

Both officials emphasized the important role Interpol plays in enhancing global police cooperation. Stork detailed that to complete the organization's Vision 2030, its member countries will investigate the future of policing in an increasingly digital society.

This comes after Europol, the EU's law enforcement cooperation agency, acknowledged last month that criminal activity has risen with the widespread use of cryptocurrencies across borders and industries. Europol has also expressed interest in using blockchain technology to investigate organized crime and money laundering.

Interpol Engages in Fight Against Crypto Ecosystem and Dark Web Crime

In September, Interpol issued a "red alert" to law enforcement agencies worldwide for the arrest of Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs. Following the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022, South Korean prosecutors in Seoul requested that Interpol issue a "Red Notice" to the agency's 195 member countries to locate him.

Since at least 2015, Interpol has been working to gain more knowledge about bitcoin trading and identify illegal activity on the dark web.

Interpol partnered with cybersecurity firm Trend Micro in 2020 to prevent cryptojacking from affecting Southeast Asian routers, and in March 2020, the agency partnered with South Korean data intelligence firm S2W Labs to investigate dark web activity, including bitcoin trading.

Several years ago, the INTERPOL Global Innovation Integration Center completed specialized training to identify techniques and tactics used to evade detection on the dark web, which often uses non-standard communication protocols and ports.

After the destruction of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, many government agencies and law enforcement have been investigating the remaining dark web marketplaces and how transactions are handled and "hidden. Some of these dark web marketplaces have taken control of the cryptocurrency market.