Reported by: Richard Vanderford

“Cryptocurrency is here to stay,” a top Internal Revenue Service law enforcer said, and the tax-collection agency wants to partner with the industry to fight financial crime. 

The IRS Criminal Investigation division is bringing on hundreds of new agents a year, including many who will be directed to work on digital assets and cybercrime, said Thomas Fattorusso, the special agent in charge of IRS-CI’s New York field office.

Mr. Fattorusso, who spoke with The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, said IRS-CI, which often competes with the flush crypto sector for talent, welcomes the revolving door—the shuffling of talent between government and industry—as a way to foster ties. Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

WSJ: How do you view digital assets? Are you willing to work with these companies?

Mr. Fattorusso: We can’t be hostile to the technology. We have to embrace it. 

Cryptocurrency is here to stay, as far as I’m concerned. It isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and it’s becoming more legitimate as the years roll on—it becomes more sophisticated. My thought is that those relationships will develop as the years go on and [as] the companies become more comfortable with dealing with the federal government. I don’t see how we can operate in this space without it.

Read full report: https://www-wsj-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/irs-sees-crypto-companies-as-potential-crime-fighting-partners-11671656025