Interpol To Form A Special Division To Handle Crypto And Digital Assets Crime

Interpol Secretary-General, Jürgen Stock. (photo: twitter @INTERPOL_SG)

JAKARTA - The International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol is reportedly planning to strengthen its crackdown on cryptocurrency-related crimes by establishing a dedicated crypto division.

India's news agency, Business Standard, reported on 17 October that Interpol, the world's largest global police organization, has also set up a special team in Singapore to help the government fight crimes involving virtual assets,

Interpol made the announcement at a press conference ahead of the 90th general assembly in Delhi, which will be attended by top police officials from its 195 members from October 18 to October 21.

According to the secretary general of Interpol, Jürgen Stock, the absence of a legal framework for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether poses a major challenge for law enforcement agencies. “Because very often, agencies are not properly trained and equipped” to tackle cryptocurrency crimes in the first place,” Stock said in a report quoted by Cointelegraph.

Stock also pointed out that cryptocurrencies and cybercrime will be the main focus of the agenda at Interpol's general assembly in India.

Praveen Sinha, special director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation, emphasized that it is increasingly difficult to monitor cybercrimes. He also highlighted Interpol's role in building and developing better police cooperation at the global level.

"The only answer is international cooperation, coordination, trust, and real-time sharing of information," Sinha said.

The news comes soon after Interpol issued a "red notice" to global law enforcement last September for the arrest of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon.

South Korean prosecutors in Seoul had previously asked Interpol to issue "red notices" for Do Kwon in Interpol's 195 member states to find him after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022.

Interpol's latest attempt to better track cryptocurrency crime is not the agency's first initiative to gain more crypto-related skills. Interpol has been working to gain more expertise to learn about cryptocurrency transactions and identify criminal activity on the darknet by at least 2015.

In 2020, Interpol partnered with cybersecurity firm Trend Micro to reduce cryptojacking affecting routers across Southeast Asia. The agency is also working with South Korean data intelligence startup S2W Lab to analyze dark web activity, including cryptocurrency transactions in March 2020.