The theft of cryptocurrencies through criminal fraud and hacking would be the purview of a new U.S. interagency task force envisioned in a bipartisan bill introduced Thursday, backed by well-placed lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Task Force would be led by the US attorney general, according to the bill text reviewed by CoinDesk, and would involve the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of the Treasury, among others.
The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Lance Gooden, a Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and a Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Josh Gottheimer.
“Crypto criminals are stealing billions from Americans and Washington lacks a coordinated strategy to stop them,” Gooden, a Republican from Texas, said in a statement to CoinDesk. “As digital assets shape the future of finance, this bill protects consumers, cracks down on thieves, and strengthens trust in the crypto ecosystem.”
The task force would become the main coordination point to prevent and investigate cryptocurrency theft, which is a problem affecting the young industry. From fraud and so-called pig slaughter by complex criminal networks to attacks by state-backed hackers, digital assets have long been a target. Many of the sector’s most vocal political opponents often cite that undercurrent of criminal abuse as evidence that the sector is risky for consumers.
Despite $11 billion in theft and scams last year, “victims have nowhere to turn,” argued Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat. This change would provide “a single federal point of contact.”
This legislative effort suggests that responses to theft cases have been inconsistent across jurisdictions, including federal agencies and state and local authorities.
“By hosting a coordinating task force at the Department of Justice, this bill gives victims, investigators and local authorities the unified federal response they have been missing, all on a voluntary basis and respecting local control,” Dannis Porter, co-founder and CEO of the Satoshi Action Fund that advocates for digital asset policy, said in a statement.
Before the arrival of President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto administration, the Justice Department had maintained its own National Cryptocurrency Law Enforcement Team, but the agency quickly disbanded it during the new administration, with new leaders arguing that it was regulating the industry through law enforcement.
In 2021, during President Joe Biden’s administration, the Joint Ransomware Task Force was established to coordinate among federal agencies in a similar and related vein, because ransomware attacks are often associated with crypto payments.
And last year, the Treasury Department created a Scam Center Strike Force to work with other law enforcement agencies to address offshore scams that seek to trick people into sending cryptocurrency. The group, led by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, says it seized more than $700 million in cryptocurrency from scams, often backed by Chinese organized crime groups through intermediaries in Southeast Asia.
It’s not yet clear whether the task force’s new legislation will find a path to passage in the busy congressional session. The bills must find a path through a House committee or be attached to a must-have legislative package.
The Digital Chamber, a Washington group that supports crypto policy, said in a statement about this legislative effort that it is “critical that law enforcement agencies have the tools, training and coordination necessary to investigate thefts, track illicit activities, support victims and pursue bad actors.”
