Crypto theft from criminal fraud and hacking would be the jurisdiction of a new US interagency task force under consideration in a bipartisan bill introduced Thursday backed by well-placed lawmakers in the US House of Representatives.
The Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Task Force would be led by the U.S. Attorney General, according to legislative text reviewed by CoinDesk, and would involve the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and the Treasury Department, among others.
The legislation is sponsored by Representative Lance Gooden, a Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and by a Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Representative Josh Gottheimer.
“Cryptocriminals are stealing billions from Americans, and Washington lacks a coordinated strategy to stop them,” Gooden, a Texas Republican, 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 point of coordination to prevent and investigate cryptocurrency theft, a problem plaguing the fledgling industry. From fraud and so-called hog slaughter by complex criminal networks to state-sponsored attacks by 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 fraud 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 the theft cases have been inconsistent across jurisdictions, including federal agencies and down through state and local law enforcement.
“By housing a coordinating task force within the Department of Justice, this bill gives victims, investigators and local law enforcement the unified federal response they’ve been missing, all on a voluntary basis that respects local control,” Dannis Porter, co-founder and executive director of the Satoshi Action Fund, which advocates for digital asset policy, said in a statement.
Before the arrival of President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto administration, the DOJ had maintained its own national cryptocurrency enforcement team, but the agency quickly disbanded it under the new administration, with new leaders claiming to regulate the industry through enforcement.
In 2021—under President Joe Biden’s administration—the Joint Ransomware Task Force was established to coordinate across federal agencies in a similar and related manner because ransomware attacks are often linked to crypto payments.
And last year, the Treasury Department created a Scam Center Strike Force to work with other law enforcement agencies to deal with overseas scams that seek to trick people into sending crypto. The group, led by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, says it has seized more than $700 million in crypto from scams, often supported by Chinese organized crime groups through middlemen in Southeast Asia.
It is not yet clear whether the new task force legislation will find its way to passage in the busy session of Congress. Bills must either find their way through a House committee or be attached to a legislative package that must be moved.
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 necessary tools, training and coordination to investigate theft, track illegal activity, support victims and pursue bad actors.”
