By Riley Kaminer
According to blockchain data platform Chainalysis, crypto crime is down 65% compared to this time last year. Compare that to transaction volumes for legitimate services, which is only down 28%. That is clearly a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, criminals continue using crypto to fund illegal activity to the tune of $20 billion a year – while the cost of cybercrime could skyrocket to $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.
For Lili Infante, these stats are far from just numbers on a screen. As a Special Agent at the DEA, Infante led the first official Cyber Investigations Task Force that focused on the use of cryptocurrencies in violation of the U.S. anti-money laundering laws and the Controlled Substances Act.
Infante first came across crypto when she started investigating the dark web. “I became obsessed with it,” she told Refresh Miami, as she learned how crypto was being used to launder money.
“I made a prediction that Bitcoin was going to be the premier way that criminal organizations – not just dark web but also traditional criminal organizations – launder money because of how easy it is to transfer value across borders, how cheap it is, and how efficient and fast it is.”
Around 10 years later, it’s clear that Infante’s prediction was correct. Eventually, however, she started to think that working in law enforcement wasn’t the most effective way for her to fight this crime. “I realized that it would be a lot more efficient to build some automations and technical tools that will help the government actually address these new threats that are growing exponentially.”
So last year, Infante launched Miami startup CAT Labs, which is building crypto asset recovery and cybersecurity tools to fight crypto crime. The company has two products: a digital asset recovery tool to help governments find, identify, and seize cryptocurrency; and a security tool that helps enterprise customers such as infrastructure providers and custodians keep their crypto safe.
“We have proactive and reactive tools,” Infante explained. “We’re doing a lot of really cutting-edge R&D work on these types of tools.” The platforms are set to be launched in the coming months.
“These two verticals are serving two very different types of clients, but it’s very exciting on both fronts,” she said. “We’re excited to be able to help the industry grow and mature while also helping law enforcement.”
CAT Labs has raised $4.3 million thus far and has a full-time team of eight plus a handful of contractors – and growing.
Ultimately, Infante’s vision is to stamp out crypto crime so that the technology can be used for good. “Crypto is a hedge against tyranny – it’s always been about that,” she said. “That was the original intent of Bitcoin: to be used to bank the unbanked; to remove the corrupt human element from the social and political and monetary systems that we live in.”
“I think that crypto still has great potential to do that. I don’t think that we should try to regulate it out of existence. We just have to manage the way that bad actors exploit the tech.”
Photo at top of post: Lili Infante briefs 295 world leaders of 61 countries at the U.S. Parliamentary Intelligence – Security forum in London on the use of digital assets in illicit finance and the tools CAT Labs is building to help governments scale and automate investigations and intelligence collection to address the corresponding national security threats.
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