How do virtual economies and assets (such as in-game currencies and non-fungible tokens) contribute to financial crime vulnerabilities?
Background
Alongside the more specific categories for further research, there are some cross-cutting themes where the research questions and gaps are relevant across economic crime as a whole.
This includes how best to understand and respond to the threat as technology develops quickly. For example, how might this technology development influence the response required. There are also gaps in the best research methods to understand economic crime as a whole; for example, around best identification and utilisation of suitable data sources.
Finally, horizon scanning is crucial to maintaining sight of how the threat may evolve and how best to prepare for mitigating that in the future.
Next steps
Get in touch with NECC-IF-Research@nca.gov.uk EconomicCrimeResearch@homeoffice.gov.uk
Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Economic Crime Areas of Research Interest ARI report July 2025 1
Topics
No topics assigned yet
Research fields
No research fields assigned yet
Related UKRI funded projects
-
FinTech digital solution to prevent online payments to criminal traders
Governments and regulators set the rules of engagement for economic growth, environmental protection and funding of public services. Law enforcement agencies & the legal system ensures compliance. The majority of go...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on detecting and preventing online payments to criminal traders, directly addressing financial crime vulnerabilities related to virtual economies and assets.
-
How Online Technologies are Transforming Transnational Organised Crime (Cyber-TNOC)
The role of online technologies in organised crime is growing, as it is in wider society. Traditionally, organised criminals would threaten or (in the UK) much less often resort to the use of violence and intimidation to...
Funded by: ESRC
Why might this be relevant?
The project specifically addresses the role of online technologies in organized crime, including the use of virtual currencies to conceal illicit finances.
-
Identifying Money Laundering On The Blockchain
As financial crime becomes increasingly sophisticated, traditional anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) systems struggle to keep pace, particularly in decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockch...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Lead research organisation: UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Why might this be relevant?
The project addresses money laundering on the blockchain, which is related to financial crime vulnerabilities, but does not specifically focus on virtual economies and assets.