Meticulously tracking the flow of cryptocurrency across global blockchains may sound daunting, but for Australian Federal Police forensic accountant Abigail Gibson, it is both a passion and a powerful crime-fighting tool.
“I love detailed work. Explaining to people what I think has happened in a way they can understand is one of my greatest achievements,” Ms Gibson said.
Since 2022, Ms Gibson has been part of the AFP’s specialist cryptocurrency team, where she applies forensic accounting expertise to assist criminal investigations and the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce.
Her work involves analysing blockchain data, preparing detailed reports and appearing in court as an expert witness — a skill set growing in importance as criminals increasingly turn to cryptocurrency to conceal illicit profits.
Blockchains are public digital ledgers that record cryptocurrency transactions outside the traditional banking system. Each transaction contains dates, times, values, codes and blockchain addresses, offering investigators crucial clues about who is sending and receiving funds.
“Cryptocurrency transactions stay in ledgers forever and are visible to the whole world,” Ms Gibson said.
“These ledgers don’t require the usual forms of identification to move funds, but there are clues if you know how and where to look. I’m looking for information that links an individual to money from scams, fraud, money laundering or illicit darknet markets, and proving real-world assets were bought with criminal proceeds.”
The rapid growth of cryptocurrency has only sharpened the need for specialist expertise. When Ms Gibson joined the AFP’s crypto team, Bitcoin was trading at about USD 31,000 (AUD 44,000). By December 2025, its value had surged to around USD 90,600 (AUD 135,000).
Ms Gibson said criminals are drawn to cryptocurrency for its pseudo-anonymity, speed and global reach.
“This area is fast-paced and constantly changing, but our team has the skills and capability to keep up with evolving criminal uses of blockchain technology,” she said.
The AFP regularly trains and collaborates with international law enforcement agencies, allowing officers like Ms Gibson to stay ahead of emerging threats.
“I’m constantly learning and upskilling,” she said. “I’ve worked with law enforcement partners across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia.”
In June 2025, Ms Gibson attended a Europol cryptocurrency conference in The Hague, joining investigators from 44 countries to exchange best practice in digital asset investigations.
After studying accounting at university, Ms Gibson worked in insolvency and forensic accounting before joining the AFP in 2017, when the organisation had just nine forensic accountants. Today, that number has grown to more than 25, all focused on tackling complex financial crime.
Over her career, Ms Gibson estimates she has examined the accounts of more than 400 businesses and worked on over 200 financial crime and proceeds-of-crime matters, including money laundering, company phoenixing, tax avoidance and fraud.
“I once created a short animation to explain the flow of funds in a complex phoenixing case,” she said. “I love problem-solving and thinking outside the box. Sometimes the challenge isn’t financial — it’s how to explain complex information to non-financial people.”
Away from the spreadsheets and blockchains, Ms Gibson is learning Japanese, hoping one day to collaborate more closely with Japanese law enforcement and prosecutors who are highly experienced in cryptocurrency investigations.
As criminals adapt to new technologies, investigators like Ms Gibson are proving that even in the digital world, money always leaves a trail.
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