Big Surprise: More Cyber Investigators Are Needed

November 12, 2025

Europol recently held its 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets. The upshot? “Global Law Enforcement Plays Catch-Up with Crypto Criminals as Gaps Remain,” reports Cybernews. The conference participants pinpointed three specific ways the good guys are at a disadvantage:

“Three key gaps were identified in legislation, implementation, and law enforcement’s capacity to fight crime. Therefore, participants agreed that new common standards need to be developed, cooperation deepened, and investments in law enforcement capacity increased.”

How insightful. Contributor Linus Kmieliauskas continues:

“‘The borderless nature of blockchains means criminal proceeds can cross the globe in seconds, while formal cooperation between authorities can still take days or weeks,’ the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation emphasized, adding that many agencies still lack the skills and resources to pursue leads or recover assets. Meanwhile, Ned Conway, Executive Secretary of the Wolfsberg Group, an association of 12 global banks focused on the management of financial crime risks, said that better communication between banks and crypto companies will help disrupt illicit finance as well. … [Back in August,] blockchain sleuth ZachXBT highlighted multiple challenges that made fighting crime more complicated. For example, the majority of law enforcement agencies might not be sufficiently competent to trace basic thefts and seize frozen funds from centralized platforms. Meanwhile, smaller thefts may never be assigned to police officers due to a lack of resources.”

Lovely. Should governments invest in more resources and training for law enforcement? Nah– let‘s just rely on private initiatives instead. The “T3 Financial Crime Unit,” for example, is backed by Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs. Are these entities moved by the purest of motives?

Cynthia Murrell, November 12, 2025

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Uncategorized

Comments

Got something to say?

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.