Cryptocurrency Crimes Unit Launched in Brazil
Cryptocurrency crimes have several traits that make them
difficult to detect by traditional intelligence units. This is why some
countries have already dedicated part of their budget to building resources to
face these new tech crimes. Brazil, a country where numerous
cryptocurrency-related scams have happened, has officially reported the launch
of a cryptocurrency-dedicated investigation unit.
This new unit, denominated “Crypto,” is being created by the
public prosecution office of the Federal District in the country, and will
perform its duties by helping public prosecutors deal with cryptocurrency
cases. In the same way, the unit will target the consumers of crypto products
to warn and educate them about the safe use of cryptocurrency assets.
Frederico Meinberg, the coordinator of the unit and public
prosecutor, talked about the training that the agents in the Crypto unit must
follow. In an interview, Meinberg stated:
The best training for an agent dealing with digital assets
is to interact with the market. Without practice, we can offer the best tools
that, in the end, the agent will not know what to do with. That is why we
always focus on the interaction of agents with the ecosystem, starting with
exchanges and peer-to-peer sellers.
Meinberg did not disclose the number of agents that are part
of the crypto unit due to security reasons.
Brazilian Crypto Regulation
The establishment of the first cryptocurrency-dedicated
investigation unit comes on the heels of the approval of the cryptocurrency
bill by the Senate of Congress in April.
This proposed bill has, amongst other objectives, the goal
of curbing crypto-related crimes in the country by defining a new kind of
crypto-related fraud and assigning penalties of imprisonment from two to six
years, depending on the crime.
Meinberg has said that, due to the nature of these crimes,
cryptocurrency investigations are more difficult than traditional ones. In this
sense, he believes that the advancement of these regulations could be a big
help for the public prosecution, because they could help to speed up procedures
by establishing specific protocols for this task.