Rumour has long been that Homeland Security in the United States has been interested in Bitcoin’s role in the buying and selling of drugs and other illegal goods and services, via the dark web in particular. However, a recent indictment form leaked from the US Department of Justice has solidified these rumours. Digital currency task force
The indictment form concerns accused marijuana and cocaine dealer, David Ryan Burchard, and the activities of Matthew Larsen, a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The section in particular that has concerned many with an interest in hiding their cryptocurrency activities comes under the third section in this document, under the subtitle ‘Facts Establishing Probable Cause’. It says: “I [Matthew Larsen] am part of a digital currency task force focused on identifying the use of digital currency to launder the proceeds of criminal activity. As part of this task force, I have been involved in several investigations into unlicensed digital currency exchangers and narcotics distributors on the dark web who use digital currency to receive payment for the sale of narcotics. These investigations have brought my attention to numerous individuals who have been cycling through large amounts of Bitcoin .” There have been suggestions that this task force actually monitors the Blockchain in real-time for suspicious behaviour. In this case, “specifically, in or around March, 2015, I [Matthew Larsen] began investigating David BURCHARD based, in part, on his sale of millions of dollars of Bitcoins to an unlicensed digital currency exchanger. I was, and continue to be, unable to identify a legitimate source of BURCHARD’s large amount of Bitcoins.” This has led many to conclude that the task force is using a combination of public records and real-time Blockchain monitoring to fulfil their obligations. Criminal activity
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