Governments today have a large team of’ cyber agents’: agents who specialise in cybercrime. It’s a mix of skills that far from everyone possesses, and so do companies in the cryptocurrency sector. In some cases, these cyber specialists in the crypto sector are even paid two to three times as much.

According to Bloomberg, this is based on discussions with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). The UK’s cybercrime departments are facing a brain drain as experienced employees leave the police and head to crypto companies. The NPCC estimates that the UK police cyber staff is shrinking three to four times as fast as the rest of the police workforce.

Some fifteen individuals are said to have already left, and it is expected that this number will increase significantly over the next twelve to eighteen months. Fifteen people may sound small, but cyber teams are typically quite specialized and therefore not that big. So, relatively speaking, it will be a significant number. It is obvious that the impact of the shrinking teams will grow.

Among the companies hiring ex-cops are major trading platforms such as Binance and Coinbase. But also, for example, the well-known blockchain analysis company Chainalysis attracts cyber experts. According to NPCC Chief Executive Andrew Gould, drastically higher salaries are the cause of the problem. Crypto companies are able to pay two to even three times as much as the government. Police are unable to cope with such a rapid loss in employees, Gould said.

Bloomberg emphasizes that in 2018, the UK police lobbied the government for additional financial support so that they could deploy about 250 ” crypto tactical advisors.” These people were trained to investigate transactions and to seize cryptocurrency. At the same time, companies in the sector are trying to protect themselves as well as possible from hackers. That’s where the same people come in handy.