New York State Police Suspicious Activity Review team (SAR) and Financial Crimes Unit won Law Enforcement Awards from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for disclosing a bitcoin drug deal.

The ceremony took place at the US Department of the Treasury. The case honoured with the award concerned an individual that during a six-month period opened several accounts in different banks where he deposited sums of cash totalling at $170,000. He used the money to purchase bitcoins and then closed the accounts. The police traced these funds to an online dark market where the suspect made a number of drug deals.

As FinCEN’s press release reads, the award has two main goals:

“First, to recognize law enforcement agencies which made effective use of financial institution reporting to obtain a successful prosecution. And, second, to demonstrate to the financial industry the value of their reporting to law enforcement.”

By reaching these goals, FinCEN hopes to consolidate partnership between law enforcement agencies and financial organisations in their fight against financial crimes. According to the press release, “these awards are presented to law enforcement agencies that use Bank Secrecy Act reporting provided by financial institutions in their criminal investigations”.

As the number of successful investigations of financial crimes increases, cryptocurrencies are no longer regarded as the most suitable means for illegal business. Last month, Science Magazine published an article arguing that bitcoin movements are even easier to track than fiat money due to the system’s open character. One more factor contributing to the change of the attitude is the growing expertise of the police and other law enforcement agencies in the bitcoin technology. Last month, the existence of Homeland Security Bitcoin Task Force was finally confirmed. One of the Special Agents of the Task Force called bitcoin transactions “pseudonymous” meaning that in fact they are only partly anonymous.

Anna Lavinskaya