Abstract

Blockchain technologies (BT) have provided unique affordances for decentralisation, peer-to-peer collaboration, and relative privacy. Such affordances have manifested benefits in a wide range of domains, including in value storage and transfer instruments like cryptocurrencies. However, this has made them attractive to cybercriminals, seeking to leverage cryptocurrencies for illicit activities and transactions, which pose substantive challenges for forensic investigators. These challenges span the identification of perpetrators, the increasingly multi-jurisdictional nature of cybercrime, and legal and digital divides. Conversely, blockchains provide novel opportunities for forensic investigators and law enforcement agencies. This paper addresses emergent forensic challenges posed by BT along with opportunities for law enforcement. It highlights a divergence between BT used by criminals, and those heralded for law enforcement. This calls for explicit reconsideration of blockchain technologies proposed in scholarly literature as BT could be deployed through a multitude of architectures, each with its own unique affordances.

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