Fourteen supervisory and law enforcement officials from Ukraine enhanced their knowledge and skills in identifying and investigating financial crimes conducted with cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets in a training course held from 14 to 17 November 2023 in Vienna. The course was organized by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
"With the growing use of virtual assets and cryptocurrencies in Ukraine, there is a pressing need to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement and supervisory bodies. This is essential for effective investigations, enhancing Ukraine's resilience against money laundering and other financial crimes," said Ralf Ernst, Acting Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental activities. "This is the second training on investigation of virtual assets for Ukrainian officials, and the OSCE will continue to support Ukraine's efforts to combat money laundering, particularly through virtual assets and cryptocurrencies."
During the course, participants learned about advanced techniques and practical tools to investigate financial crimes committed with virtual assets. The course also equipped participants with knowledge on advanced tracing of criminal transactions on different blockchains, case studies, and best practices, and provided an opportunity for participants to familiarize themselves with specialized analytics software.
This course is 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 the capacity of national authorities to mitigate criminal risks related to virtual assets and cryptocurrencies with the help of analytical tracing software. The project is funded by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Romania and Poland.
