Peer-to-peer exchanges

[MarkRoberts]

Peer-to-peer exchanges

According to Chris Janczewski, a special agent with the IRS’s Cyber Crimes Unit, peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges based on the popular instant messaging program may quickly and readily transfer questionable or stolen assets.

The IRS is now devoting more attention to Bitcoin-related crimes being reported on Telegram, and crackdown operations are being deployed to bring the culprit to book. Last month, President Joe Biden’s administration revealed a new tax scheme that would require firms that engage $10,000 or more in bitcoin transfers to declare these transactions to the IRS.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig sought special authorities from Congress last week to regulate cryptocurrencies and closely collect and monitor crypto data. According to the US Treasury Department, bitcoin already creates a serious detection challenge to aiding unlawful trading acts.

Janczewski, who helped break a huge child-porn site in 2018 by scrutinizing Bitcoin transactions, said that P2P groups function similarly to the famous marketplace LocalBitcoins.com, which publishes lists of bids to buy or sell Bitcoin or other cryptos.