Bipartisan House bill proposes special federal task force to fight crypto theft

Bipartisan U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation to establish a cross-agency federal body dedicated to investigating cryptocurrency fraud and hacking. 

The proposed force would be led by the attorney general and staffed across the DOJ, FBI, DHS, and Treasury. The aim of this group is  to give a method of reporting losses for victims who are currently without a clear path to do so. 

How bad are the crypto losses in the U.S.?

Official government data confirms that Americans lost more than $11 billion to cryptocurrency fraud in 2025 alone. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report shows that there were 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency, with total losses exceeding $11.3 billion. This represents a 21% jump in complaint volume from the previous year. 

Investment scams were the biggest contributor to the total amount, accounting for $7.2 billion of those losses. 

A report from blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs found that wallets linked to illegal activity received $158 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025, a sharp increase from $64.5 billion in 2024. 

These losses were driven largely by sanctions evasion and nation-state actors. However, it is worth noting that illegal activity as a share of all crypto activity actually fell slightly to 1.2% in 2025. 

The FBI reports that, more than any age group, people over 60 filed 44,555 complaints and lost $4.43 billion to crypto scams. In the U.S., the bureau’s 2025 Internet Crime Report logged 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency, with total losses exceeding $11 billion, representing a 21% jump in complaint volume from the prior year.

The FBI has launched initiatives like Operation Level Up to identify and notify victims while a scam is still happening, and that has helped save an estimated over $500 million since it began in 2024. In 2025 alone, the operation saved $225.8 million. There were also 3780 recorded victims that year. 

What would the new task force do? 

The bill, called the Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Enforcement and Coordination Act, was introduced by Republican Rep. Lance Gooden and Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer as a means to give victims, who currently have no single place to turn for help, a place to make reports.

Rep. Lance Gooden is a Texas Republican who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, while Rep. Josh Gottheimer is a New Jersey Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.

Rep. Gooden said in a statement that Americans lack a coordinated strategy to stop the crypto criminals that are stealing millions from them. 

The task force would be based in the Department of Justice and would bring together the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Treasury Department. Its job is to coordinate investigations, create a standard playbook for local police on handling crypto theft, and provide better support for victims.

The Trump administration disbanded the Department of Justice’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) in 2025. Officials at the time argued that the previous administration had used the team to regulate crypto through lawsuits rather than focusing on catching criminals, and now the new bill will fill that gap, albeit with a different approach.

Federal enforcement of crypto-related crime is currently split across multiple agencies and has overlapping but fragmented rules that have produced inconsistent responses, leaving investigators and victims to navigate the inconsistent framework.

The Digital Chamber, a crypto policy organization, endorsed the idea, saying law enforcement needs better tools and training. Dennis Porter of the Satoshi Action Fund said the bill would give “victims, investigators and local law enforcement the unified federal response they have been missing.”

The bill still needs to pass through committees or be attached to a larger legislative package to become law.

Prior federal initiatives similar to this have either been disbanded or operate with narrower mandates. For instance, the DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, created under the Biden administration, was shut down after President Donald Trump took office. 

Officials in the Trump’s administration are now arguing that the unit had effectively been regulating crypto through its enforcement actions.

The Joint Ransomware Task Force, established in 2021, coordinates agency responses to ransomware attacks, many of which demand payment in cryptocurrency. 

Separately, the Treasury Department launched a Scam Center Strike Force last year focused on overseas fraud operations. That group, led by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has seized more than $700 million in crypto tied to scams linked to Chinese organized crime networks operating through Southeast Asian intermediaries.

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