Criminal Investigation Department of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS-CI) reported that it participated in a larger proportion of cryptocurrency investigations on December 4th. The head of the IRS-CI, Jim Lee, stated in a statement to Bloomberg that about half of all investigations into digital assets in the past year involved tax issues. In contrast, he pointed out that three years ago, 90% of active cryptocurrency cases involved money laundering.

The statement was released together with the annual report of the Criminal Investigation Department of the US Internal Revenue Service on the same day. There, Lee admitted that most cryptocurrency users have legitimate intentions and that digital assets can promote financial innovation. However, he emphasized that cryptocurrency may facilitate money laundering, cybercrime, ransomware, drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, weapons financing, and tax crimes. He added that cross-chain cryptocurrency transactions and token exchanges make tracking difficult but not impossible.