The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said Monday it has developed what it termed a “world-leading Cryptocurrency Investigation Train-the-Trainers course,” and delivered, in recent weeks, the first courses on cryptocurrency investigation.
This is in response to the increasing use of Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to move criminal proceeds, said UNODC.
Criminals and terrorists seek to exploit the anonymity of dark net markets and cryptocurrencies to buy weapons, child abuse material, drugs and cybercrime exploit kits. Using UNODC’s niche training, mentoring and advice, law enforcers around the globe are minimizing the ability of criminals to evade capture and harm society.
“We partnered with UNODC on creating the comprehensive train-the-trainers program on analysis, tracing and investigation of cryptocurrencies,” said Michael Gronager, CEO of Chainalysis Inc. “It is a highly important topic: the use of Virtual Currencies is steadily growing and today analysts, law enforcers and prosecutors need training to collect and disseminate data gathered by exchanges and brokers thus supporting the expertise of national agencies in preventing misuse of this innovative technology for criminal purposes.”
A second course, focusing on the analysis of cryptocurrency transactions, chokepoints investigation, Bitcoin AML framework and case studies, was delivered to participants from more than 20 countries. Throughout the training, participants learned to speak the same analytical cryptocurrency language and spread the acquired knowledge among colleagues in their jurisdictions.
“It’s thanks to donor Governments such as the UK, USA, Norway that UNODC GPML has been able to develop and deliver this innovative course,” said Neil Walsh, UNODC Chief of the Global Program on Cybercrime.
