The US Secret Service has seized over $102 million in various cryptocurrencies over illicit digital activity in 254 cases since 2015. David Smith, Assistant Director of Investigations, told CNBC in an interview that analysts actively track the flow of bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) and other cryptocurrencies.
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"When you follow a digital currency wallet, it's not different than an email address that has some correlating identifiers. And once a person and another person make a transaction, and that gets into the blockchain, we have the ability to follow that email address or wallet address, if you will, and trace it through the blockchain."
Some of the cases targeted Russian syndicates that used crypto exchanges to launder money, Smith said. He also added bad actors quite often exchange bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies into stablecoins. In order to track this activity, the Secret Service is watching the whole market.
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