Key facts
- Criminals are using crypto products in innovative ways to evade detection and move illicit value at scale, according to the NECC.
- Cryptoassets are now the third highest priority among nine economic crime priorities identified by the NECC and its partners.
- The NECC is enhancing its crypto capabilities to be more proactive and intelligence-led.
- Operation Atlantic identified 20,000 approval-phishing victims and froze $12 million.
- Operation Destabilise has led to 129 arrests and over £25 million seized in the UK.
- A RUSI report suggested that banning crypto privacy tools would push illicit actors to unregulated services.
Britain's National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) has warned that criminals are increasingly employing "innovative use of crypto asset products to evade detection and move illicit value at scale." The agency's annual report highlights that cryptoassets now rank as the third highest priority among nine economic crime priorities agreed upon with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Home Office, and HM Treasury.
The NECC is actively developing a more proactive and intelligence-led crypto capability to better address these cross-cutting priorities. This initiative signals a shift from reactive measures to generating its own targets within the crypto space.
Recent operations underscore the agency's focus. Operation Atlantic, a week-long collaboration with the U.S. Secret Service, Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, and Tether, successfully identified 20,000 approval-phishing victims and froze $12 million in March. Furthermore, Operation Destabilise, which targets Russian-speaking money laundering networks converting cash into crypto, has led to 129 arrests and the seizure of over £25 million in the UK. The NECC intends to expand this operational approach to other high-harm money laundering networks posing the greatest illicit finance risk to the UK.
In parallel, academic research supported by the NECC suggests a nuanced approach to privacy tools. A report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), based on a roundtable hosted by the NECC, argued against banning crypto privacy tools. Participants indicated that such a prohibition would likely drive illicit actors to unregulated services, diminishing the ability of investigators to gather information. Allison Owen, the report's author, noted that fostering trust through compliance features could ultimately broaden the technology's legitimate use.
Discussion