While crypto is gradually getting legalized, its money laundering use persists — what are the trends?
Although Bybit CEO Ben Zhou says 88% of stolen crypto is still traceable, the recent Bybit hack has been linked to an unprecedented money laundering operation. Is money laundering via crypto on the rise? Let’s break it down.
BlackRock’s Larry Fink famously called crypto an “index of money laundering” in 2017. Five years later, Fink realized that he shouldn’t dismiss Bitcoin, and BlackRock embraced Bitcoin. Now, the company’s iShares Bitcoin Trust holds over over 570,000 bitcoins, more than any other company. BlackRock started to work with Bitcoin in 2022. According to Chainanalyis, that year saw the peak evaluation of crypto used for crime, particularly for money laundering, at $54 and $31 billion,…
