Europol and Interpol: Fighting Bitcoin Money Laundering

At a recent two-day workshop in Basel, Switzerland attended by more than six dozen international financial investigators, Europol and Interpol agreed on a series of measures to strengthen the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing using cryptocurrencies.

Financial Investigators Discuss Cryptocurrency Regulation

The seminar was jointly organized by the Basel School of Management in Switzerland, Europol and Interpol. In addition to representatives from the private sector, more than 60 financial investigators from 32 countries focusing on money laundering, cybercrime and financial intelligence attended the seminar.

The workshop reached consensus on reducing the misuse of cryptocurrencies by criminals and terrorists, including money laundering and other illicit uses. Specifically, the agreed measures include:

1. Sharing information on digital currencies and money laundering through channels such as Europol, Interpol, the Egmont Group and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU.net).

2. Cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers are regulated under current anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing legislation.

3. Clear definitions of concepts such as "cryptocurrency", "digital currency exchange", "wallet provider" and "mixer" will be written into the EU legal framework.

4. Take measures against the use of digital currency mixers to conduct anonymous transactions, making it easier for law enforcement agencies to investigate and track suspicious transactions.

Cryptocurrencies increasingly used for crimes including terrorism financing, Europol says

In a statement following the seminar, Europol claimed that cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used for criminal activities, including terrorist financing, and announced that it will continue to coordinate with EU member states and other countries to effectively address this growing threat factor.

Just a few weeks ago, on January 10, U.S. Republican Congressman Ted Budd of North Carolina submitted a bill to Congress proposing the establishment of a new task force to combat terrorist financing using cryptocurrencies through research and policy development.

The Crypto-Terrorism Problem Is Exaggerated

Elliptic's recent research report shows that criminal activity conducted through Bitcoin transactions has decreased by more than 40% since 2013, with only 0.61% of crimes conducted through Bitcoin transfers. In October 2017, a UK government report committee came to the same conclusion - the terrorist financing risk posed by cryptocurrencies is small and is unlikely to increase in the next five years.