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The European Police, Europol, has drummed support for using crypto to fight criminal activities. The commission confirmed this in a statement during the 6th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies. Financial investigators and crypto experts attended the event. The European police believe that blockchain can lessen criminal activities.
Top speakers from the European regulators and security experts were also in attendance. Also, the representatives of crypto firms, including Binance, TRM Labs, Chainalysis, and CypherTrace, were present. Crimes such as drug trafficking, sports match-fixing, and transactions involving dangerous weapons have recently been perpetrated with cryptos.
According to reports, criminals harness cryptos to engage in money laundering activities. Money launderers use digital assets’ to conceal the proceeds of traditional and online crimes.
The Chief of Financial Investigation at the UK National Crime Agency (NCA), Gary Cathcart, also reacted to the rise in digital crimes. Cathcart said, “parts of the Bitcoin infrastructure are being exploited to launder illegal funds, especially from drug trafficking… the escalating threat of ransomware employs bitcoins as a payment mechanism.”
The European police believe crypto can go a long way in curbing criminal activities globally. Justifying its position, the European Police says cryptos run transparently, allowing regulators and law enforcement free access to individuals’ and organizations’ finances.
Europol stated that crypto, coupled with appropriate mechanisms, capacities, and cooperation, can aid criminal investigations. According to the commission, the distinctive peculiarities of blockchain technology provide an excellent opportunity to investigate organized crime and money laundering networks to aid the recovery of stolen funds.
Europol adopts mechanisms to track BTC and Ether transactions
The European Police has recently adopted several mechanisms to track transactions involving Bitcoin and Ethereum. As of press time, Europol is actively involved in the crypto industry, having earned the collaboration and support of numerous exchanges and other institutional actors.
According to Europol, all the institutions taking part in the fight against criminal activities are all working hard to remain ahead of people that use crypto assets to execute crimes and launder money. Also, the new European legislation is expected to ensure that crypto assets are scrutinized like any other assets due to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
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