There's No Such Thing as Crypto Crime

Introduction

I own hardly any crypto at all, just a bit of Bitcoin and some Ethereum. People always assume that since I’ve been around crypto for so long, I probably bought Bitcoin in 2010 for next to nothing and am now “crypto-wealthy.” Sadly, that’s not the case. I have never had any interest in the investment opportunities of cryptocurrencies. Just ask my friend Chris, who I advised not to bother buying Bitcoin when it was just $2,500! However, for almost a decade I have been fascinated by the technology that underpins crypto and how it can be exploited to track and trace those who would use blockchain-based funds to acquire or move criminal assets. Whatever I think about investing in crypto—and all the best to you if you have done well from it—I believe that the technology is sound and crypto is here to stay. If your work is as a criminal investigator, lawyer, legislator, compliance officer, or tax or financial investigator—really any career that touches on crime—you will come across crypto. You need to keep reading!

This book will help you to understand the ways that criminals utilize crypto in areas such as investment frauds, pig-butchering scams, money laundering, illicit financing, and more. You will learn the fundamental elements that make up different blockchains that underpin crypto such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the myriad of spin-off currencies, and how you can use the underlying ledgers to trace funds, attribute addresses, and seize proceeds of crime.

I suspect ...