In its annual report, the investigative branch of the US Treasury’s tax service returned to all the financial crimes and seizures carried out in 2022. Let’s take stock of the place of cryptocurrencies in this report.
The US tax service takes a look at cryptocurrencies
The Criminal Investigation Branch of theInternal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax servicehas published its annual report in which it reviews in particular thecryptocurrency seizures made this year.
In his introductory words, Jim Lee, the head of the service, highlights the scale of financial crime in the United States in 2022:
“In fiscal year 2022, we investigated some of the largest and most sophisticated tax crimes, and we identified more than $31 billion in tax evasion and other financial crimes. »
Of course, these figures are not limited only to cryptocurrencies. They encompass a multitude of reprehensible actions such as tax evasion, public corruption or money laundering, regardless of the asset class.
In listing this year’s “feats of arms”, the report highlights, for example, the seizure of the 94,000 BTC stolen from the Bitfinex exchange, which was worth $3.6 billion at the time of the suspects’ arrest last February. It is also the largest single seizure of the US government.
In comparison, the other seizures are less significant. We can still cite the fraudulent ICO of Bitqyck whose founders were sentenced to 8 years in prison for having ripped off 13,000 investors in a $24 million deal.
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Emphasis on agent training
Before being able to hope to make seizures, the agents of the investigation branch of the tax service must be trained in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Office Cyber and Forensic Services (CFS), created in 2021 to facilitate the investigation of cybercrime linked to digital assets, recognizes the difficulty of navigating the waters of pseudonymity and anonymity:
“CFS is constantly taking additional steps to evolve, especially as threats are evolving in areas such as decentralized finance, peer-to-peer payments and anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies. Due to relatively limited resources, CFS focuses on where they can have the most significant impact. »
Moreover, these same agents also deliver training worldwidewithin the framework of cooperation with the police forces of other countries.
Of course, if we have focused here only on cryptocurrencies, we should not either make the mistake of stigmatizing the entire ecosystem. And for good reason, this same report highlights, for example, seizures in fiat dollars or in real estate, as well as cases of tax evasion having no connection with digital assets.
👉 Read also – Blockchain police training: interview with Major Erwan Bouliou
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Source: Internal Revenue Service
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I timidly discovered the world of blockchain at the end of 2018 during my quest for financial freedom. Initially invested moderately, it was only two years later that I took the gamble of betting everything on the movement that was taking shape then. I then dedicate 2021 to training myself better to acquire more knowledge and seriousness. As I often like to say: I still have a billion things to learn. And what I do know, I want to share with you.
Vincent Mayor
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