Around 40 public-sector practitioners gathered in Luxembourg on 17 September 2026 for the Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Workshop. The event put African experience, innovation and talent at the heart of discussions on cryptoasset investigations and asset recovery.

Held as a side event to the 10th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets, the workshop brought together specialists from financial intelligence units, law enforcement agencies, prosecution authorities, regulators and asset recovery bodies. Participants represented more than 15 African countries.

The Basel Institute on Governance co-organised the workshop with the SecFin Africa. It was hosted by Luxembourg’s Bureau de gestion des avoirs.

Learning from African experience

The workshop was designed around peer learning. Practitioners from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa presented real cases to their regional peers. They spoke openly about the obstacles they had encountered and the practical approaches they had developed to overcome them.

The workshop took place under the Chatham House rule. Participation was restricted to public-sector officials to provide a safe space for candid discussion, questions and learning.

This practitioner-led approach is central to the Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Network. The Network recognises that valuable expertise and creative solutions already exist across the continent. Its role is to help practitioners share this knowledge, learn from one another and build trusted relationships across institutions and borders.

As H.E. Ambassador Mary Chirwa, Ambassador of Zambia to the Benelux countries, said in her closing remarks at the main conference:

I can speak for Africa: it may not have the same resources as other regions, but it has large, young and technologically astute populations – quick to embrace new technologies, question established approaches and find imaginative solutions.

Practical tools and international cooperation**

The workshop also introduced practical tools that can support investigations and asset recovery.

• Alexandru Donciu, Virtual Assets Specialist at the Basel Institute, demonstrated free and open-source tools for conducting on-chain investigations.
• A representative of the French Gendarmerie and France’s Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC) presented ASAC. The application guides magistrates and investigators through procedures for tracing, seizing and confiscating criminal assets.
• A Europol representative illuminated the work and approach of the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre and its collaborations with global law enforcement partners.

The contributions from international partners highlighted the importance of connecting strong regional networks across continents. Cryptoassets move globally and effective investigations depend on cooperation that does the same.

Connections that last beyond Luxembourg

Many of the participants also attended the main Global Conference on 15–16 September. This gave the large African delegation opportunities to exchange experience with hundreds of peers from law enforcement, policymaking, research and the private sector.

These face-to-face connections matter. They build the trust that makes it easier to pick up the phone when an urgent cross-border case arises.

Our sincere thanks go to SecFin Africa and to the workshop’s co-moderators, Philippe Pacaud, Operational Coordinator at SecFin Africa, and Simon Marsh, Head of Africa at the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery.

SecFin Africa is funded by the European Union, France and Germany. We also gratefully acknowledge the organisations supporting the Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Network: Kodex, Asset Reality, Tradias, VerifyVASP, Coinbase, TRM Labs, CAT Labs and iSanctuary. Their support helps make this public-sector community and its activities possible while preserving a trusted and product-free space for practitioner exchange.

The enthusiasm in Luxembourg also raised an exciting possibility: a dedicated Africa Crypto & Asset Recovery Conference in 2027. Watch this space.