Crypto plays a crucial role in fighting crime, says Europol

As crypto use spreads to every nook and cranny of society, the abuse of the system to commit new crimes and launder illicit funds is also increasing.

While Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now widely used in nefarious activities, the decentralized nature of blockchain technology gives law enforcement an important new tool to combat organized crime.

In 2018, criminals moved $8.7 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, a 30% increase from the previous year, according to a report by blockchain data firm Chainalysis.

Tuesday marked the conclusion of the two-day 6th Global Conference on Criminal Finance and Cryptocurrencies, hosted by Europol at its headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.

More than 1,700 registered participants from 119 countries, including digital currency specialists and financial investigators from crime-fighting agencies, regulators and the commercial sector, attended the event.

Image: AML Intelligence

Europol can use some crypto information to fight crime

According to the speakers, the use of cryptocurrency is increasing “into almost all countries and industries”, facilitating the emergence of new types of criminal activity.

The speeches illustrated how “conventional” and “virtual” types of organized crime and money laundering are converging.

Digital currencies are increasingly used in trade-based money laundering activities, for example, and are related to a wide range of illegal operations, such as drug trafficking, sports betting and proliferation financing, the Europol conference revealed.

Gary Cathcart, head of financial investigations at the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK, stated:

“Parts of the Bitcoin infrastructure are being exploited to launder illicit funds, particularly from drug trafficking … the escalating threat of ransomware using bitcoins as a payment mechanism.”

Chainalysis also has criminals in its crosshairs

Chainalysis also has its hands full when it comes to knowing and understanding how the bad guys operate.

According to Chainalysis, it keeps a close eye on crypto wallets controlled by criminals such as ransomware attackers, fraudsters, dark web market operators, human traffickers and terrorist organizations.

For its part, Europol has analyzed the criminal use of cryptocurrencies to support law enforcement and its response to developments in this field.

The resulting study covers basic concepts, case studies and specifics regarding the difficulties authorities face in countering the illicit use of these asset types.

Europol also points out that increasing understanding and capacity in the digital arena among all parties is crucial to curbing physical and virtual organized crime and money laundering.

In other words, crypto plays an important role in helping international anti-crime agencies deter the outbreak of crime before it happens. As the sages would say, prevention is better than cure.

Meanwhile, new legislation being passed by the EU will ensure that crypto-assets are subject to the same anti-money laundering regulations and oversight as regular assets.

Europol is up against criminals who are also upping their game as technology – and crypto – advances.

Crypto total market cap at $964 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Featured image from TheNextWeb, chart from TradingView.com