U.K Watchdog Opens New Crypto Unit and it’s Open For Hire

National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), the crypto arm of the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has opened a new office committed to fighting crimes and criminals involved with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and others. The new team dubbed National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) Crypto Cell is a strategy for the watchdog to expand its vigilance on the crypto ecosystem in the U.K.

A spokesperson from NCA confirmed the news citing that fighting crypto crime is not a new thing with the organization. However, the designation of a new office and team show a heightened interest and focus in the industry.

Chris Lewis-Evans, NCA infrastructure investigations director expressed his excitement about the latest addition saying, 

“This is a really exciting opportunity which involves working in a team at the forefront of protecting the U.K. from cybercrime,” adding that “Cryptocurrency and virtual assets are widely viewed as specialist areas of knowledge, and this role is key to supporting NCA investigations in which these are used to enable serious criminality.”

New Crypto Unit Wants to Hire New Staff

For the NCA operations to take off initially, the team will begin with five officers who will be devoted to “proactive cryptocurrency remit.” 

As it stands, the NCA is in search of a crypto investigator with strong knowledge and expertise in conducting blockchain forensic investigations on serious and organized crime. Any applicant is expected to understand how to identify and recover seed phrases as well as advanced tracing through blockchain.

As part of his responsibilities, the NCA crypto investigator will take the lead in offering strategic and tactical recommendations to other investigators who are handling crypto cases either in a new investigation or a previous one. The U.K. watchdog is proposing an annual salary range of between 40,200 British pounds which is approximately $48,200 and 43,705 pounds approximately $52,400.

The job offer is open until January 10th when applications will no longer be accepted. 

In consonance with the NCA’s combat against crypto crimes, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has budgeted £500,000 ($670,000) to spend on training its employees on terrorism financing and money laundering activities in the crypto industry