US government offers cryptocurrency bounty in radical new approach to tackling cybercrime

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Play by their rules.

TASS via Getty Images

In what appears to be a first for the US government, the US State Department offers to pay a cryptocurrency bounty worth up to $ 10 million (315 BTC at the time of writing) in return actionable intelligence on cyber attacks orchestrated by foreign governments.

The federal agency, acting through the Rewards for Justice program run by the Diplomatic Security Service, made the offer in a July 15 press release.

He said payment would be provided to anyone who can provide information that can identify or locate anyone who, while acting under the direction or control of a foreign government, is participating in malicious cyber activities against an infrastructure. American critic.

The press release then added: Reward payments may include cryptocurrency payments.

A spokesperson for the agency confirmed to a baffled Coindesk that this indeed marks the first time since its inception in 1984 that the Rewards for Justice program has offered a reward payment in cryptocurrency.

More importantly, it appears to be the first time that an organ of the US federal government has taken the plunge. The Most Wanted Lists with Cash Rewards are also maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, but to date neither agency has publicly offered to make payments in wanted cryptocurrency in cryptocurrency-related crimes).

For bitcoin enthusiasts, the news can be seen as an admission by the US government that decentralized cryptocurrencies are a viable way to conduct state affairs.

It is probably too much to read there. To be eligible for the $ 10 million reward, you almost certainly have to be a Russian or Chinese hacker willing to commit treason by passing information about your activities and chain of command to a hostile Western government.

The US Diplomatic Security Service will be keenly aware that anyone who engages in its Rewards for Justice program is putting their life at risk, so the decision to offer cryptocurrency payments appears to be largely a pragmatic one. Most cryptocurrencies are traded on public blockchain networks which offer more anonymity and less traceability than traditional payment channels.

Informants were also asked to make contact via an anonymized Tor channel on the Dark Web, which is not exactly routine government protocol.

Nonetheless, it is of historical significance that the U.S. federal government is now offering to pay for services funded by taxpayer dollars with cryptocurrencies that exist outside the influence of central banks and other state institutions. .

This should allay the lingering doubts some people have about the security of bitcoin, which is cryptographically unbreakable and can only be entered if it is improperly stored by entrusting it to third parties.

If adopted as a broader government policy, the approach should also lead to a healthy increase in intelligence information.

Earlier this month, a coordinated ransomware attack originating in Russia disrupted the operations of more than 1,000 companies using the IT infrastructure provided by US company Kaseya. Cybercrime costs the global economy more than $ 1 billion a year, or about 1% of global GDP, according to software security company McAfee.

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