Canadian law enforcement has started using specialized software to trace crypto while investigating cybercrimes. Police now have the ability to trace blockchain transactions, identify suspects and determine where funds have been deposited.
As revealed by local police to the Lethbridge Herald newspaper, the police forces are already enjoying access to Chainalysis Reactor software. The program helps to trace cryptocurrency from the point of origin until it’s been deposited on an exchange. Once the trace identifies the platform, police can request the account holder’s information and transaction data to see where the cryptocurrency was sent beyond the exchange.
One of the officers trained as a blockchain analysis investigator emphasized the importance of the software, which took the police’s work with crypto crimes to a new level — before that, agencies across Canada “used to run into a roadblock” once they determined a fraud involving digital assets.
The partnership between Chainalysis and the Calgary Police Service started in April 2023. Back then, the company revealed the launch of the Western Canada Cryptocurrency Investigations Centre, which focused on crimes involving blockchain.
Canada ranked 22nd in Chainalysis 2022’s Global Crypto Adoption Index, up from 26th in 2021 and 24th in 2020. In the same year, for every 1,000 Canadians, there was at least $1,144 Canadian dollars in total exposure to illicit crypto activity, according to Chainalysis.
In August, the Bank of Canada reported a decline in the ownership of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the country. By the end of 2022, 10.1% of Canadians have been holding Bitcoin (BTC), down from 13.1% in 2021.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
More from Politics
Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.