+180% billion dollars laundered with BTC in 2019 says MIT Technology
New research indicates that across the world in 2019, 2.8 billion dollars were laundered in 2019 by criminals using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through the exchanges of the most popular platforms. In 2018 the cleaned up figure was much lower, 1 billion.
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http://www.getrevue.co/profile/zpx/issues/btc-laundering-through-otc-and-onto-exchanges-chainalysis-study-221503
The crime world is laundering an increasing amount of cryptocurrency by shifting it to respectable exchanges. The MIT Technology Review writes citing Chainalysis, a business analytics company that uses data analysis to track cryptocurrency transactions and characterize users and which claims that in 2019 criminal entities have moved wlin across various cryptocurrency trading platforms 2,8 billion in Bitcoin, up from around $ 1 billion in 2018. More than half of these were transacted in the two most popular circuits, Binance and Huobi.
The need for criminals is to convert the illegally acquired cryptocurrency into cash. Traditional bags are subject to anti-money laundering rules, which require them to know who the customers are. Chainalysis researchers believe that criminals have found a solution: to use so-called over the counter (OTC) third-party intermediaries, which facilitate exchanges between buyers and sellers by avoiding regulated exchanges.
While most OTC brokers operate a legitimate business, some of them specialize in providing money laundering services to criminals, Chainalysis told MIT Technology Review magazine. In particular, a small subset of OTC brokers are facilitating most of this criminal activity. Chainalysis has compiled a list of 100 that appear to provide money laundering services, which he has nicknamed Rogue 100. The members of the list are "extremely active traders" who have been receiving month more and more cryptocurrencies, according to Chainalysis, adding that the activity of these traders in "2019 has skyrocketed".
What could be a goodsolution? According to Chainalysis, stock exchanges should be more rigorous in the scrutiny of OTC brokers, with a greater use of analysis tools such as those developed by the company itself. A crackdown on dishonest OTC brokers could have far-reaching effects, says the company: "After all, if there was no way for the bad guys to cash out there would be much less incentive for them to commit crimes."
