Cryptocurrencies and Crime: Challenges and Solutions at the Crypto Symposium

Post on: 30.10.2024

In addition to traditional currencies, criminal and terrorist organizations are increasingly using often cryptocurrencies to hide their money flows. This evolution places the authorities and financial intermediaries facing new challenges.

For this reason, 250 representatives from the public and private sectors met at the second Crypto Symposium to discuss new trends, methodologies and possibilities; In Cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more popular. around the world: Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and many more. As a result, the number of financial intermediaries providing services in the field of " virtual asset" è Increasing.

Criminals also use cryptocurrencies for their illegal purposes, which range from theft and scams to more complex forms. serious crime including money laundering and terrorist financing. All of this is reflected in the increasing number of suspicious cryptocurrency alerts sent to the Money Laundering Reporting Office MROS.

In 2023, 14.5  For One hundred of the suspicious communications showed a link to cryptocurrencies, twice as many as in 2020. This Evolution is a challenge for the authorities. of criminal prosecution, given that cryptocurrencies complicate the tracking of financial flows and therefore the identification of the Origin of assets and economically entitled. The Approach " follow the money" remains valid, but we must address the question of " how".

Repressive measures must be accompanied by prevention work, which is equally important in the fight against crime. For this reason, MROS has organized a second edition of the Crypto Symposium in Zug. The audience consisted of service providers belonging to the cryptocurrency industry.

During the At the event, various speakers gave interesting speeches on the challenges related to tracking offending cryptocurrencies, including representatives from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), as well as of the units; financial intelligence of Estonia and Turkey on the one hand and representatives of the business world on the other.

Whyé Only by collaborating at national and international level, both at public and private level, will it be possible to effectively combating money laundering and terrorist financing.