A new report from Chainalysis claims that criminal enterprises are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to launder money and move illegally obtained funds.
The report states that criminals are turning to Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets to for crimes such as drug trafficking and fraud because crypto is “cross-border, virtually instant, and generally inexpensive to transact.”
Chainalysis goes on to state that money launderers use various methods to conceal the origins of their illegal funds.
Those methods include mixing cryptocurrencies from various sources to make the detection of their origin difficult, moving funds between different blockchain networks, and transferring money between several digital wallets to avoid detection.
Since 2019, about $100 billion U.S. in illegal funds have been transferred from illicit digital wallets into fiat currency, according to Chainalysis data.
Law enforcement authorities around the world can trace and analyze money laundering that’s being done with cryptocurrency due to the transparency of blockchain.
However, many law enforcement agencies lack the resources to track and stop the movement of illegal money through crypto channels, which is why so called “crypto laundering” is likely to rise in coming years, concluded Chainalysis.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is currently trading at $63,500 U.S., having risen 44% so far this year.
