Cybercriminals make use of technology for their benefit; they adopt new digital solutions such as cryptocurrencies to add an additional layer of anonymity to their illegal conduct. Virtual currencies can be important vehicles for money laundering and terrorist financing. Investigating the criminal use of cryptocurrencies is not an easy task. More efficient investigations require speacilised knowledge and skills, but also effective legislation.

The Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe in the framework of the Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe - iPROCEEDS, in cooperation with the International College of Financial Investigations (ICOFI), Hungary, has organised between 5-7 November 2018 a training course on the subject.

During three days, prosecutors, cybercrime and financial investigators and Financial Intelligence Unit specialists from  Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Turkey and Kosovo* have been introduced to the cryptocurrencies' ecosystem - different types of wallets, public and private keys, exchanges, "miners", mixers and tumblers. The open source methods of tracing bitcoin transactions have been explored as well as methods of their seizure. Participants learned OSINT techniques in gathering information on a suspect.

The Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive of the European Union and its key changes with regard to virtual currencies’ AML regime was also discussed.

• Agenda
• iPROCEEDS project website

^{*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.}