Have there been any money laundering schemes that used cryptocurrency?

[Twentyonepaylots]

People might have been doing that in the early years but one thing I can say that with the government regulations especially with the KYC being implemented by most of the exchanges it would be extremely difficult for people to launder money and evade taxes with cryptocurrencies anymore

Correct. The very reason why exchanges these days are implementing KYC on their users, I've seen some exchange who doesn't have KYC but is now announcing that they'll have as soon as possible. Fraud and money laundering have been a problem since then, Criminals are taking advantage of the use of cryptocurrency as it hides their identity making it easier to transact globally. Another trigger why did the government tell exchanges to have KYC is because of tax evasion from the businesses owners, instead of fiat they are using crypto to avoid paying taxes which the government didn't like. Now the money laundering has been addressed, what the exchange should be doing now is to improve their system to avoid hacking occurrences.

[xiboothrezi]

Of course, with all this anonymity and confidentiality, some illegal activity would have been carried out with cryptocurrency. It is common knowledge too if the dark web uses cryptocurrency as one of the payments there. That is the reason that makes some countries limit the use of cryptocurrency even imposes very strict rules. For the sake of avoiding illegal activities.

[TimeTeller]

Of course, with all this anonymity and confidentiality, some illegal activity would have been carried out with cryptocurrency. It is common knowledge too if the dark web uses cryptocurrency as one of the payments there. That is the reason that makes some countries limit the use of cryptocurrency even imposes very strict rules. For the sake of avoiding illegal activities.

I believe such money laundering schemes really happen most in the dark web.
And the reason also why there are bitcoin mixers to preserve their privacy as they say.
But when they start to convert their coins to fiat, that's where KYC comes in.
Most of the remittance/payment centers and other entities that accept the conversion of crypto to fiat requires some identification.
So with that, it is very hard to launder money because your identity is known and they are regulated under Central Banks.

[nydiacaskey01]

Maybe there is but none reported. Whoever will do such thing will have a hard time converting to fiat. Unless they know someone who is willing to convert it for to fiat but that will require face to face transaction which endangers both parties involved. Its not an east transaction that's why i'm thinking why they think it can be used in such activities.

[bitbro678]

Here's an article that can shed some light on mixing services used to launder stolen crypto: https://medium.com/cobo-vault/chipmixer-for-transaction-anonymity-c6a724573ba7

[Shasha80]

In my opinion, a money laundering scheme that used cryptocurrency is very difficult to do now, because the government has anticipate it.
By applying KYC to local exchanges.Do you want to used exchanges that do not apply KYC but if you want to make a deposit or withdraw
the amount is usually in the limit. So from that it is quite complicated that money laundering is used by cryptocurrency, thus the person who
do money laundering would prefer to use the old way to do money laundering. There are several event of money laundering that used
cryptocurrency. However, the event is very small, it is also prone to get caught by the government.

[MWesterweele]

It could definitely not be skipped if the topic is about money laundering schemes, especially in utilizing cryptocurrency as a subject to commit illegal crimes, as technology improves, there are also wide range of fraudulent activity that criminals could choose from. In my opinion, even in pyramid investment, it could be prone, or there is a huge chance that it will turn out to be scam, cryptocurrency is too easy to use and transact because of anonymity, and people could always take advantage of that if they will utilize crypto in a negative manner.

Cryptocurrency cannot escaped the laundering of many people in the world perhaps more and more people are being scammed and fooled everyday, especially this bitcoin season where people wanted to have more money because of Christmas. They are using the word crypto because we all know that it has a larger value than other investment in stocks therefore we should keep our eyes and be aware in every scheme they are making.

[iram3130]

Lots of examples already present. Some are framed by the governments which just doubled the value and some were real laundering but they justify it through their reasons.
Many of the terrorist organizations are running by using cryptocurrencies now, we cant deny that. But the positive side is allot more useful than the negative.

[Twentyonepaylots]

Of course, with all this anonymity and confidentiality, some illegal activity would have been carried out with cryptocurrency. It is common knowledge too if the dark web uses cryptocurrency as one of the payments there. That is the reason that makes some countries limit the use of cryptocurrency even imposes very strict rules. For the sake of avoiding illegal activities.

Criminals did take the advantage of what the cryptocurrency has to offer, we should not worry about it coz the government are taking care of this matter. Like China, they just shut down a lot of exchange whose not accredited by their regulatories and is accountable for various fraudulent and illegal activities involving cryptocurrencies. Indeed cryptocurrency greatly helps the economy but it does not end there, just like hacking even you upgrade the system there will be always a hole to sight.

[lizarder]

I think it is very possible that cryptocurrency is used for money laundering. This is because the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency makes the owner of cryptocurrency very difficult to track the source of funds used.

Even though some exchanges have used the KYC method to avoid this, but if it is entered in the wallet I think it is very difficult to be able to trace the source of funds generated by the owner of the wallet itself

[viennemariela]

With the advent of technology, and the fast and vast spreading of information, it is very much likely for people, organization, business tycoons, and money laundering operators to utilize bitcoin as a storage for their money. As their cash is converted to cryptocurrencies, they have the chance to shift funds to numerous people, or to other entities. This, however happens most likely in other countries.
Since there is no single administrator or moderator for this, money launderers could utilize this opportunity to mazimize their assets more without being checked by the government.

[Republikcoin.com]

Maybe there is but none reported. Whoever will do such thing will have a hard time converting to fiat. Unless they know someone who is willing to convert it for to fiat but that will require face to face transaction which endangers both parties involved. Its not an east transaction that's why i'm thinking why they think it can be used in such activities.

it depends on how much money he/she will wash. without even having to do face-to-face meetings, they can do it on several exchanges. although there is a small fee, but I think it's still worth it. I'm pretty sure there are people who take advantage of the advantages of bitcoin/altcoin like this. however, the KYC system allows the exchanger to know the person making the transaction, but until now there is still a flaw in the system.

[metalglowd]

As there are many corrupt wealthy people around the world, such as politicians and crooks, and they would always try to get rid of their cash in many ways such as money laundering. Since there are many ways to get rid of cash ranging from the obvious to the rather obscure. Has anyone used cryptocurrencies in money laundering schemes?
   
I mean considering the anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies around the world, I think that it would be a good idea to use it to hide your money by converting cash into cryptocurrency which can only be accessed by yourself and anyone who has knowledge of the secret passcode of your ledger.

Is it possible to do so or the authorities have countermeasures in place in order to catch people red-handed when laundering money through cryptocurrencies.

Actually doing a transaction like this is very easy to trace, especially if you have connections with friends / 3rd party people who cannot maintain client confidentiality.
Change your cash into cryptocurrency have to option, buy it direct from exchange which also in this case KYC will be needed and by people who has the same amount of cryptocurrency you will need to convert. About authorities will trace your transaction i think it depends on how exchange will react on your transaction, if they think your transaction is suspicious maybe the authorities will try to trace it

[David Gutierrez]

Pues eso es algo muy común hoy en dia, hasta en las peliculas algunas veces asemejan el uso del bitcoin con el lavado de dinero. Pero en todo mercado siempre suelen hacer estas practicas, fijate no más en la bolsa de valores, ahí se suelen mover los grandes capitales y uno nunca sabe la procedencia de estas inversiones.

Saludos

[GideonGono]

As there are many corrupt wealthy people around the world, such as politicians and crooks, and they would always try to get rid of their cash in many ways such as money laundering. Since there are many ways to get rid of cash ranging from the obvious to the rather obscure. Has anyone used cryptocurrencies in money laundering schemes?
   
I mean considering the anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies around the world, I think that it would be a good idea to use it to hide your money by converting cash into cryptocurrency which can only be accessed by yourself and anyone who has knowledge of the secret passcode of your ledger.

Is it possible to do so or the authorities have countermeasures in place in order to catch people red-handed when laundering money through cryptocurrencies.

In our national news in my country, Bitcoin rarely appears on the national television and I recall the time where millions of amount in our currency had been laundered by a group of people which they use Bitcoin as mode of transferring this money and accumulating the amount but in the end they were caught by the authorities which proves that the government had established a certain way to track down this abusive people and for the justice to be delivered.

[bitbunnny]

I read some news in media about cryptocurrencies being used for money laundering, even for terorrism financing. How much of that is true or proven I don't know but it puts a bad light on cryptocurrencies. However, we need to have in mind that anonimity and lack of regulation contribute to misuse of cryptocurrencies but that is not characteristic only for crypto, fiat is abused too.

[Linkkoin]

I read some news in media about cryptocurrencies being used for money laundering, even for terorrism financing. How much of that is true or proven I don't know but it puts a bad light on cryptocurrencies. However, we need to have in mind that anonimity and lack of regulation contribute to misuse of cryptocurrencies but that is not characteristic only for crypto, fiat is abused too.

The money laundering/terrorism financing is much more a problem in regards to fiat currencies (especially US dollar) than cryptocurrencies as speaking of its size. We are speaking about (estimated) more than 1.99 billion USD in total per year. Out of which maybe 1-2% max is cryptocurrencies.

[s92225]

Do you think exchanges get hack is an accident? it's an inside job bro.

[FaithInCrypto]

Bitcoin is decentralized so this is possible. I've been hearing or reading about drugs being paid through Bitcoin so money laundering is not an exemption. The government is unable to track activities like these, so it's probably one of the reasons why the government is so against crypto.

[tracey77]

Because of there are still no regulations using cryptocurrency is a very common way of money laundering. Some time ago I found out that there are Bitcoin mixers (or tumblers) which "purportedly clean dirty cryptocurrency by bouncing it between various addresses, before recombining the full amount through a Bitcoin $BTC wallet hosted on the dark web". So as you can see that case is very serious and well known among people. What's more, there are companies like Coinfirm which is a leader in Anti Money Laundering and risk analytics for blockchain and cryptocurrencies so maybe in the future such crimes will be prevented. It's pretty interesting topic, you can find more detailed information on their website: https://www.coinfirm.com/blog/coinfirm-releases-new-standard-aml-risk-reports-for-cryptocurrencies