Trump's $4.8 billion budget for the 2021 fiscal year aims to reallocate the secret service to the treasury department in part to help fight cryptocurrencycryptocurrency crime.

Released on Monday, the 2021 budget details plans to bolster the treasury department's control over crypto criminality. The Secret Service will aid the treasury in efforts to stop terrorist financing, the abuse of human rights and financial crimes.

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The report states, "Technological advancements in recent decades, such as cryptocurrencies and the increasing interconnectedness of the international financial marketplace, have resulted in more complex criminal organizations and revealed stronger links between financial and electronic crimes and the financing of terrorists and rogue state actors. 

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are popular on the darknet. Image: Shutterstock.

Report: 99.9% of Bitcoin transactions don't go to the darknet

According to new research, the total fraction of cryptocurrency transactions heading to darknet services has fallen by more than 90% since 2015. The data, collected by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, indicates that the number of cryptocurrency transactions—as a percentage of total Bitcoin transactions—heading to services on the darknet reached just 0.08% in 2019. This is down considerably from more than one percent just four years prior but is up slightly from last year’s all-time low of 0...

NewsBusiness
3 min read
Daniel Phillips

“The Budget proposes legislation to return the US Secret Service to Treasury to create new efficiencies in the investigation of these crimes and prepare the Nation to face the threats of tomorrow.” 

This reshuffle marks a return to form for the secret service. The agency was first established within the treasury back in 1865 and tasked with preventing the then-widespread counterfeiting of US currency. 

Now, with the emergence of a more specialized route to criminal financing, the proposal aims to bring the service back to its roots.

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