Financial crooks continue to prefer Fiat, government-issued money.
The risk of crypto assets being utilized for evil purposes has always been a source of concern. However, the US Treasury Department just issued a statement that allayed these fears.
Fears that cryptocurrencies could use for nefarious reasons are widespread. However, according to a recently released report by the US Treasury, the majority of financial crimes still happen with fiat money.
Earlier this month, the US Treasury released a three-year report on money laundering, proliferation financing, and terrorist financing. They were all built on the foundation of digital assets. Crypto skeptics may claim this is all about the widespread use of digital assets in these industries.
It’s Not Crypto
In this situation, though, fiat currencies and traditional money still utilizes. As a result, they have a higher chance of usage.
A full discussion of virtual currencies includes in the Treasury’s findings. It noted that since the previous risk assessment in 2020, both its user base and market capitalization has grown considerably.
However, according to these reports, illicit flows using fiat cash and established networks continue to exceed those using cryptocurrency. According to the US Treasury, the use of crypto assets for money laundering is still at a low level. It outnumbers the usage of fiat money and other more traditional methods.
Crypto, A Good Choice for Crime
“Virtual assets” are an ever-evolving realm inside money launderers’ expanding armory for disguising their finances, according to the National Money Laundering Risk Assessment. DeFi and “anonymity boosting technologies” pointed out as likely offenders.
Virtual assets appear to have employed widely in phishing attacks and ransomware scams during the pandemic.
Profit pledges from the volatile cryptocurrency market may use shady operators. This persuades victims to reveal personal information or infect their computers with malware. Following the attack, the attackers may demand payment in crypto, which is both pseudonymous and irrevocable.
Many criminals utilize over-the-counter brokers to launder their cryptocurrency, according to a recent Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report. OTC brokers are people or companies who help buyers and sellers who don’t want (or can’t) do business on a cryptocurrency exchange.
A Lurching Amount
Money laundering costs the world economy between $800 billion and $2 trillion per year, according to a UN assessment. This translates to between 2% and 5% of gross domestic product. Money laundering remains undetected in nearly 90% of cases today.
Technological developments, on the other hand, have resulted in the development of more effective tools. These improvements are still utilized by criminals to move dirty money.
At the same time, government agencies and fintech companies use technology to identify transaction characteristics and aid in the detection of fraud.
