Council of Europe Unites Against Crypto-Enabled Financial Crime

Law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners from Council of Europe member states met in Strasbourg on September 22-23, 2026, to share strategies for investigating crypto-enabled financial crime. The meeting was organized by the Council's Economic Crime and Cooperation Division.

The use of virtual assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) has created new challenges for authorities. These platforms facilitate rapid fund movement across borders, obscure transaction origins, and enable transnational networks. DeFi introduces additional complexities due to permissionless access, automated transactions, and the absence of intermediaries, making it difficult to identify actors, establish jurisdiction, and obtain reliable evidence.

Authorities must adapt to increasingly complex financial flows across multiple jurisdictions and technological environments. Investigators face challenges in linking blockchain transactions to real-world activity and obtaining information held by exchanges or other virtual asset service providers. The Council of Europe has been strengthening its institutional response to these challenges, including publishing an updated review of virtual assets and virtual-asset service providers in February 2026.

The Additional Protocol to the Warsaw Convention, adopted in May 2026, aims to strengthen asset-recovery mechanisms and international cooperation. It will facilitate competent authorities' access to data held by virtual asset service providers, scheduled for signature on October 14, 2026.