From reading the article it seems like their co-operation has largely been snitching on their friends in the DDOS community and a crypto-currency analysis app.
Undoubtedly, but it's also probably a combination. They seem talented and probably could have provided significant technical expertise.
The Bitcoin network analyzer sounds a bit odd since you'd think the FBI already has a team dedicated to cryptocurrency investigations, but who knows. Maybe what they developed was really just that good, perhaps from their past experience tracking competitors and adversaries through the blockchain.
That’s probably a factor, but the culture of entrenched government bureaucracy and pay far below what can be gained in the private sector can’t be helping either. Plus, a lot of hackers are fairly ideologically opposed to “big government” in a kind of kneejerk fashion.
