Army Investigative Unit Looks to Detect and Trace Cryptocurrency Transactions

Army Investigative Unit Looks to Detect and Trace Cryptocurrency Transactions

A top Pentagon investigative unit charged with examining crimes on and off the battlefield—and increasingly in cyberspace—intends to tap an existing, cloud-based solution to more quickly detect suspicious or unlawful cryptocurrency transactions. 


The Army Contracting Command on Friday invited potential new partners to weigh in on their capacity to supply a cryptocurrency investigation service for the Army Criminal Investigation Command. 


“The web-based application must provide the capability to assist law enforcement [to] identify and stop actors who are using cryptocurrencies for illicit activity such as fraud, extortion, and money laundering,” officials wrote in the new request for information, adding that the service must enable users to conduct in-depth investigations “into the source of cryptocurrency transactions,” and offer “multi-currency analysis from Bitcoin to other top cryptocurrencies.”


Secured by cryptography, cryptocurrency refers to virtual currency transmitted via a digital and generally decentralized network. Without a central authority, cryptocurrencies are less susceptible to interference, and every transaction is recorded into a public ledger with codes that can be scrutinized to identify the parties behind the exchanges, which the Army explicitly aims to do. Adoption of the emerging currency is on the rise—and one recently released crypto-crime-focused report by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis revealed 18% of all Americans, and 35% of American millennials, purchased cryptocurrency in some form in the last year. 


The online currency also has been used to fund illicit activities sin ..

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