Per a job posting that appeared on June 21, the Department of Justice is looking for an attorney specialized in digital assets to join its criminal division. 

The new hire will serve as the “subject matter expert on digital currency and blockchain technologies for the Criminal Division,” specifically the Digital Currency Initiative.

The DCI itself dates to July 2018, when it came out of a report on the Cyber Digital Task Force. The new posting comes as recent ransomware attacks have captured the public’s attention. The DOJ was responsible for the recovery of the bulk of the bitcoin that hackers received upon freezing the infrastructure of the Capital Pipeline. 

Alongside massive funds going into blockchain analytics platforms, this new position is more evidence that crypto asset recovery has risen as a national priority. 

The DOJ will pay the new crypto expert, a GS 15, between $144,128.00 and $172,500.00. Applications for the current position close on July 19. 

Last year, the DOJ seized over $1 billion in bitcoin, which had in turn been stolen from the operators of the now-defunct Silk Road dark market.