A recently published auditing report from the US DoJ for the FBI’s practices related to darknet criminal investigations reportedly claimed that an overarching “crypto support strategy” should be employed. 

Specifically, the FBI’s existing darknet investigation initiatives are reportedly being hindered by a “decentralized” set of practices, policies, and training programs, together with compartmentalized intelligence, which resulted in unnecessary efforts. 

A noteworthy point to take is there currently are two separate Virtual Currency Teams – financially supported by the DoJ’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, helping the agency with darkweb investigations. 

“Rising costs and static funding from the Assets Forfeiture Fund resulted in disagreement between these two Virtual Currency Teams on the prioritization of resources.” The auditing report further read, which ultimately concluded the two Teams’s work are overlapping. 

The DoJ has reportedly put up five recommendations to enhance darknet investigations and policies, with a majority of them concentrating on centralizing protocols, in a bid to bring down  “ambiguous or overlapping investigative responsibilities”. 

This reportedly comes with a suggestion to come up with a timeline, dedicated to receiving feedback from the rest of FBI divisions, as well as finalizing its creation of the “FBI-wide cryptocurrency support strategy” – which is to be rolled out in the near future, per the auditing report.

The DoJ suggestion reportedly surfaced during the time where the workload for the FBI could potentially pile up, because of the newly established regulations.