Overview
- Lawmakers Lance Gooden and Josh Gottheimer filed the Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Enforcement and Coordination Act to set up a DOJ-led task force focused on preventing, investigating, and prosecuting crypto theft.
- The bill, introduced on June 11, 2026, names senior officials from the DOJ, FBI, Department of Homeland Security including HSI, and Treasury including FinCEN as core participants and lets the attorney general add other agencies.
- Sponsors cite FBI data showing 181,565 crypto-related complaints and more than $11 billion in reported losses in 2025 as the reason for a standing coordination hub.
- The task force would standardize operational work such as evidence collection, blockchain asset tracing, training for local law enforcement, and victim assistance while the bill explicitly bars it from exercising new regulatory authority over crypto markets or financial institutions.
- The proposal requires annual reports to Congress but leaves funding, staffing, a victim intake portal, and mandatory participation by state or local authorities unspecified, so its practical capacity depends on future appropriations and agency commitments.