Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Enforcement and Coordination Act

New federal crypto theft task force

This bill would create a Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Task Force inside the Department of Justice. The Attorney General or their designee would chair the task force, which would include senior officials from DOJ, the FBI, DHS (including HSI), and the Treasury (including FinCEN). The task force would coordinate prevention, investigation, and prosecution of cryptocurrency theft, share best practices, provide technical help and training to state and local law enforcement, and do outreach to collect information. The Attorney General would report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees not later than 1 year after enactment and annually thereafter. For the Act, "cryptocurrency theft" would mean intentionally using or transferring someone else’s cryptocurrency without permission in a way that breaks federal criminal law, and it would explicitly include hacking, phishing, tricking, and scamming. The bill would also say that nothing in the Act would authorize federal regulation of cryptocurrencies, create new federal crimes, or create a private right of action.