Morgan is seen rapping with the New York Stock Exchange behind her to the right<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cyber criminals who attack companies, municipalities and individuals with ransomware often demand payment in the form of cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n

In one high-profile example last year, hackers caused a widespread gas shortage on the U.S. East Coast when by using encryption software called DarkSide to launch a cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department later recovered some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom that Colonial paid to the hackers.<\/p>\n

Cases like these demonstrate that the Justice Department ‘can follow money across the blockchain, just as we have always followed it within the traditional financial system,’ said Kenneth Polite, assistant attorney general of the department’s Criminal Division.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Justice Department officials say that though the proliferation of cryptocurrency and virtual currency exchanges represent innovation, the trend has also been accompanied by money laundering, ransomware and other crimes<\/p>\n

‘Today\u00b4s arrests, and the Department\u00b4s largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals,’ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money, no matter the form it takes.’\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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