Considering the difficulty to follow a money trail in the blockchain and the somewhat anonymity that surrounds transactions using cryptocurrencies, this virtual asset is preferred by cybercriminals when conducting their illicit activities and laundering the proceeds resulted from them. Ransomware, hacking and other types of cybercrime are without doubt highly inter-connected with cryptocurrency and the response of judicial authorities is sometimes hampered by the complexity of this mix of crimes.

The lack of legislation on virtual assets and even more importantly, on seizing them also contributes to this void that cybercriminals exploit. The COVID-19 Pandemic only increased the use in virtual assets both for legitimate and illegitimate purposes. The aim of this workshop is to provide participants with information on how criminals abuse cryptocurrencies in hiding the illicit gains resulted from criminal endeavours and emphasise on the importance of defining legislation on domestic level in relation to handling and seizing this type of currency.