Komainu to Support UK Law Enforcement in the Fight Against Crime Involving Digital Assets

Komainu, an institutional grade digital asset custody services provider, today announced a framework service agreement with Derbyshire Constabulary on behalf of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Cybercrime Programme. Komainu will provide policing with a robust and advanced digital asset custody and security solution that will enable UK policing to securely store digital assets seized during the investigatory process.

This Komainu led procurement contract was supported by CoinShares, Europe’s largest digital asset manager, and Gentium, a UK law enforcement consultancy service specialising in financial and cybercrime. This collaboration of services will provide UK policing with the infrastructure needed to ensure the efficient handling of criminal cases that involve cryptocurrencies.

Assistant Commissioner, with responsibility for the NPCC economic and cybercrime portfolio, Angela McLaren said: “Specialist Cyber Crime Units at local, regional and national level are seizing cryptocurrencies as part of their investigations on a regular basis and desperately needed access to a secure storage solution from a regulated provider. On behalf of The National Cybercrime Programme, Derbyshire Constabulary procurement team led a commercial tender to identify a storage solution which law enforcement would be able to use via a framework agreement.

“Following completion of the tender process, Komainu were awarded with the contract making their storage solution available to all police forces in England and Wales, the police service of Northern Ireland, the police service of Scotland, British Transport Police and all law enforcement agencies within the UK. It will provide teams with the proper technology and security they need to store cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as part of their investigations. The framework agreement also reduces the duplication and costs associated with different forces all running separate tender processes to find their own solution. This is a significant step forward in supporting specialist cybercrime teams in pursuing and prosecuting offenders and denying criminality the proceeds of crime.”

Jean-Marie Mognetti, Komainu’s Co-Founder and CEO, commented on today’s news: “We’re excited to support the NPCC in their investigative efforts against criminals looking to take advantage from the perceived anonymity of digital assets for illicit purposes. As per the framework agreement, Komainu will provide a fulsome and secure cryptocurrency custody solution for UK policing while also utilizing CoinShares best-in-class realisation services to source liquidity for the seized assets when required and Gentium’s operating guidance. Combining these industry leading services will allow us to provide UK police forces with the highest level of support throughout the entire course of their investigations and resulting legal proceedings. We are looking forward to the beginning of this collaboration and are certain other government entities will require the same level of service in the near future.”

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About Komainu

Komainu is the first hybrid custodian offering safe keeping for institutional client’s digital assets. Created by the Japanese investment bank, Nomura, digital asset investment house, CoinShares and digital asset security company, Ledger, Komainu provides a single application-based solution to institutions, allowing multi-asset support benefits, regulatory compliance and insurance.

About NPCC Cybercrime Programme

The National Cybercrime Programme forms part of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) economic and cyber-crime portfolio led by Commissioner Ian Dyson and supported by Assistant Commissioner Angela McLaren. The programme was initially established to deliver the local capabilities project, establishing force level dedicated cybercrime units across England and Wales. The remit has widened with the programme currently working on over thirty live projects, including national training, the national roll out of the Cyber Tools App, Cyber Resilience Centres, Cryptocurrency training and tools, Police CyberAlarm and the new Cyber Digital Specials and Volunteers program. The programme team are here to support the Team Cyber UK Network to build a word leading cyber policing capability with access to the best training, tools and technology available.

The NPCC brings police forces in the UK together to help policing coordinate operations, reform, improve and provide value for money.