Illicit Cryptocurrency Use Targeted in Proposed 2018 FBI Budget

Guess it was bound to happen. The FBI is requesting $21M and 80 new employees to investigate emerging tech that could combat cybercrime. This budget request notably includes cases that involve "drug traffickers using virtual currencies to obsure their transactions". This is also the same narrative that the FBI's former Director James Comey put forth last month before the Judiciary Committee. The Challenge, the agency has said, is that the FBI now requires more financial resources (aka our tax dollars) to investigate said technologies and decipher information transmitted on the darknet. Elsewhere, it is also engaging in conversation with companies that provide such technology to educate them on the "corrosive effects" that information inaccessibility has on "public safety". When in reality this "information inaccessibility" is protecting the average citizen privacy. A special agent working at the FBI's Cyber Division in New York City said at an event that the agency has concerns such technology will set roadblocks for criminal investigations. "Developing alternative technical methods is typically a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process," the agency said. What a great waste of our tax dollars.