DOJ Ransom Panel Proposes Aggressive BTC Regulations: Report

The DOJ Ransom panel sees regulating BTC as a way of preventing more ransomware attacks which is why it proposed aggressive BTC regulations which we read more about in our latest Bitcoin news today.

The Department of Justice or the DOJ Ransom panel more specifically, assembled to solve the problem of ransomware and it is set to deliver the recommendations in a few day’s time. The experts within the DOJ want to combat ransomware and they are expected to take aggressive tracking of BTC and other cryptocurrencies as per a report from Reuters.
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The recommendations will expand the regulatory requirements on crypto exchanges and will hold them to similar standards as the traditional financial institutions.

Ransomware involves hacking a computer or a computer network and locking users out until they pay a ransom. About 99% of the ransomware payments were made in BTC during the first quarter of 2020 thanks to the electronic cash status. Afterward, the BTC can be exchanged in Monero which is even more difficult to trace and exchanged for cash at the end. The research company Cybersecurity Ventures estimated in 2019 that the annual ransomware costs reached $20 billion globally this year.

The Ransowmare and Digital Extortion Task Force is composed of staff members from different Department of Justice branches like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Division, Civil Division, and National Security Division as well as the Executive Office for US Attorneys. The Department of the Treasury and Homeland Security are also taking part as a private tech firm.

The recommendations are going to target anonymous crypto transactions but depending on what form these recommendations will take, they may need further congressional approval. There are three main recommendations like applying all know your customer policies for financial institutions to crypto exchanges, upping the requirements for crypto companies to earn money transmitter licenses, and also expanding the money laundering regulations. These actions could prevent ill-gotten BTC from flowing through regulated exchanges.

These recommendations will align with a proposed rule from the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Networks which will require crypto businesses to collect personal user data for transactions higher than $3500 transactions while transactions above $10K will be reported to the FinCEN. The rule extends to self-hosted wallets as well. Also, the rule drew criticism from privacy advocates and blockchain interest groups so if the DOJ takes force it could cause hackers to rethink their BTC strategy.