Cryptolaundering: Optimising Cryptocurrency Laundering Interventions

Abstract

Money laundering accounts for approximately US$1 trillion each year. It is difficult to estimate how much of that amount includes cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Despite increased global regulation and enforcement, the use of cryptocurrencies in illicit trade and laundering activities grows each year. A corresponding growth in cybercrime, ransomware, identity fraud, and cryptocurrency theft from exchanges feeds the pool of illicit digital proceeds. Recent efforts to reduce cryptolaundering activities have been insufficient despite the global implications for terrorism funding and the cost to governments in continued anticrime enforcement and lost revenue.