The OSCE organized two training courses in Vienna from 27 March 1 April for Ukrainian law enforcement and financial supervision agencies on basic techniques to investigate money laundering conducted through cryptocurrencies and virtual assets. Almost 30 representatives of specialized agencies of Ukraine attended the courses to improve their skills in tracing crypto transactions.
"Criminals continue to launder their dirty money with the help of virtual assets. Unfortunately, many of them are still a step ahead of relevant law enforcement and supervision agencies," said Ralf Ernst, Deputy Co-ordinator/Head of Economic Activities in the OSCE's Office of the Co-ordinator for Economic and Environmental Activities. "As the virtual assets industry is constantly evolving, staying sharp and always learning is essential to combating this form of virtual crime. This training course is an important way to help Ukrainian authorities strengthen their skills to investigate, seize and confiscate cryptocurrencies from criminals."
Course participants learned about assessment, investigation and supervision methods, risks associated with cryptocurrencies, criminal schemes, as well as tools for tracing different coins and tokens. They also reviewed case studies, discussed compliance of virtual assets service providers (VASP), and had an opportunity to try different tools for online supervision and investigation.
The training courses are part of an OSCE-led extra-budgetary project on innovative policy solutions to mitigate money-laundering risks of virtual assets. The project is designed to support the governments of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in building national authorities' capacities to mitigate criminal risks related to virtual assets and cryptocurrencies. The project is funded by the Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
