The survey highlights the crucial role of public sector investigative agencies in combating crypto crime, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced staffing and technology in this area. It also reveals that public sector employees generally have a positive view of crypto, with Latin American and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) respondents expressing optimism about its place in financial markets, while Asia–Pacific (APAC) respondents are more skeptical. Participants in the survey anticipate an increase in crypto-criminal activity over the next five years and predict that investigations will require more time for tracking and reporting.
About half of the participants also expressed dissatisfaction with the staffing and technical resources available for investigating cryptocurrency-related crimes within their agencies. The report emphasizes that illicit use cases of cryptocurrency go beyond typical cybercrimes associated with crypto, such as ransomware and darknet markets, encompassing offenses like intellectual property crime and conventional drug trafficking. Nevertheless, despite these challenges, there is a belief in crypto’s potential for adoption and its impact on traditional finance systems, particularly in Latin America due to economic challenges driving financial innovation.
The survey also revealed disparities in self-perceived expertise, with respondents from APAC expressing less confidence than those in EMEA. The study found that sub-national tax authorities reported the highest instance of cryptocurrency artifacts in their investigations at 45.3%, while military and defense agency respondents reported the lowest rate at 19.0%. Furthermore, the report pointed out that crypto-related cases typically take longer to resolve compared to traditional financial and non-financial crimes, with the EMEA region reporting the highest incidence.
More than half of all respondents expressed some level of dissatisfaction with their agency’s staffing resources available for crypto investigation, with U.S. respondents mainly satisfied with training opportunities but less so with staffing and technical resources. The survey received responses from over 800 public sector employees worldwide, with APAC respondents accounting for 44.3% of all respondents, North America at 18.1%, and EMEA at 10.4%. Notably, about one-quarter of respondents declined to share their location.