The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) plans to expand its digital asset investigation team, hiring four senior investigators to focus on cryptocurrency-related crimes.
These positions involve investigating blockchain-based crimes such as high-end cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering conducted by organized crime gangs.
The UK has been working to establish a team dedicated to investigating illegal crypto activities, with the formation of this unit prompted by the loss of at least $287 million to cryptocurrency scams in the UK in 2022.
The NCA has been trying to bring more manpower to its encryption team. On July 26, the NCA also announced the recruitment of a Financial Investigations Manager. These investigators will oversee cryptocurrency and digital asset crime investigations from the perspective of the Proceeds of Crime Act, which involves the seizure and redirection of criminal funds for the benefit of the community.