Now a day’s money laundering is a serious process for the economy globally. People all around the world are disturbed by this illegal process. Criminals use many methods to launder huge amounts of money daily and virtual currencies have become their target.
This is the digital era and digital assets are in demand. People mostly use these for their transactions. The ease comes when you get to know that these are not controlled by the government. Billions of dollars have been laundered through the cryptocurrency and this is the matter of concern now.
What is Money Laundering?
Money laundering is basically an illegal process of making large amounts of money. This kind of money is generated by the criminal activities. The criminal activities may include drug trafficking, terrorist funding or even child trafficking. The criminal conceals such sources in order to make it clean for others.
Since 2018 the figure of the money laundering has increased. The major reason behind such an increase in money laundering through bitcoins is their feasibility. They are easily exchanged without any bank formalities. Moreover, the transactions are online that makes it more vulnerable. There is a potential gap between the law enforcement and the main point is the transnational nature of the cryptocurrency that makes them the target for money laundering.
The stages of money laundering.
There are many ways of bitcoin money laundering as stated below.
Placement:
Placement is the first stage where the criminal proceeds enter the financial system and converts them into the monetary instruments such as money order. Though cryptocurrencies are not considered monetary instruments by the regulators but many have adopted the use of virtual currencies. This is the most critical step because at this point the criminal actually use your business to convert some amount into the cryptocurrencies. This is done so that the funds get disappeared in the financial system.
Layering and Hiding:
Layering is when the converted funds are moved around into other assets or accounts. This is done in order to conceal the financial sources of those funds. A criminal would always hide such sources so that he remains safe and this kind of work continues. Businesses are sued by the criminals in order to move money around. However, there are many policies which can deploy the bitcoin money laundering.
Crypto based transactions:
Can be traced through the blockchains but criminals often use anonymizing service to hide the funds source. They often argue that the main reason to hide such source is their personal privacy and that’s the point the bitcoins become the target.
Integration:
It is the stage when the funds are again reintroduced into the financial system. This is done to purchase further assets or continue more of the criminal activities that would give you further funds.
Tumblers:
Tumblers are the mixing services that split up the dirty cryptocurrency. The tumblers are sent through various addresses and then they recombine it. in most cases the cryptocurrency is first sent to a wallet in dark web making and then to another wallet. It is then brough back and traded on the legitimate cryptocurrency. This is done to show others that the money is clean.
Unregulated exchanges:
The exchanges that are not compliant with AML and the policies are easily in hands of the criminals. The bitcoins here are traded again and again to different market places and slowly they become clean enough to be withdrawn.
