Crypto money laundering cases surge in Germany, authorities face difficulties in preventing and combating them

Original title: Crypto money laundering cases surge in Germany, authorities face difficulties in prevention and crackdown Source: CCTV

On September 2, local time, the German Federal Ministry of Finance responded to parliamentary inquiries and stated that according to statistics from the German Federal Financial Intelligence Unit, which is responsible for anti-money laundering, the number of suspected money laundering cases using cryptocurrencies in the country is increasing sharply. In 2018, there were about 570 suspected cases of money laundering using cryptocurrencies. By 2020, this number had almost quadrupled to about 2,050.

△The picture shows the German Federal Financial Intelligence Unit. Image source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Scheffler, a financial expert from the German Free Democratic Party who raised the question, believes that the federal government must increase investment as soon as possible, promote the accumulation of relevant knowledge and the development of technology, in order to deal with the anonymity mechanism in cryptocurrency transactions and strengthen the ability to track cryptocurrencies. He also pointed out that money laundering activities using cryptocurrency have caused significant damage to the German economy, and the relevant authorities must pay attention to it.

According to the German Federal Ministry of Finance, as of now, the Financial Intelligence Agency has not been able to obtain reliable information on the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering, supporting terrorism and other crimes in Germany or even in the EU. It is particularly noteworthy that some areas of the cryptocurrency trading market are not even subject to national supervision at all, and existing EU laws do not cover relevant aspects.

In addition, there are a large number of money laundering cases using cryptocurrencies that have not been handled and are piled up in the German Federal Financial Intelligence Unit, which is responsible for anti-money laundering. For this reason, experts have warned of the huge risks that legal loopholes may bring and demanded that Germany enact stricter laws to combat criminal activities of money laundering using cryptocurrencies.