Chicago’s crypto ATMs are magnets for drug-dealing and scams on older adults
https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/01/17/cryptocurrency-crypto-fraud-scam-drug-dealing-trafficking-money-laundering-chicago-illinois
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warns that “virtual currency continues to be a popular and growing method used to launder illicit proceeds derived from drug sales.”
Largest Illicit Online Marketplace' Ever Is Growing at an Alarming Rate, Report Says
https://www.wired.com/story/the-largest-illicit-online-marketplace-ever-is-growing-at-an-alarming-rate/
Crypto crime value likely hit a high of $56 billion in 2024, says report
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/crypto-crime-value-likely-hit-a-high-of-56-billion-in-2024-says-report
https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/01/17/cryptocurrency-crypto-fraud-scam-drug-dealing-trafficking-money-laundering-chicago-illinois
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warns that “virtual currency continues to be a popular and growing method used to launder illicit proceeds derived from drug sales.”
Largest Illicit Online Marketplace' Ever Is Growing at an Alarming Rate, Report Says
https://www.wired.com/story/the-largest-illicit-online-marketplace-ever-is-growing-at-an-alarming-rate/
Crypto crime value likely hit a high of $56 billion in 2024, says report
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/crypto-crime-value-likely-hit-a-high-of-56-billion-in-2024-says-report
Crypto’s Unholy Choir
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/crypto-backers-are-rogues-not-freedom-fighters-by-andres-velasco-2025-01
Global cryptocurrency use, corruption, and the shadow economy: New insights into the underlying linkages
https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12566
Abstract
The recent prevalence of digital currencies has challenged policymakers as they try to control the supply of money and rein in clandestine activities. Corruption and shadow economy are widely prevalent illegal/unobserved activities that have been hard to eliminate worldwide. These longstanding and entrenched activities have possibly found a new avenue to thrive and evade detection/punishment. So disentangling the nexus between corruption, shadow economy, and digital currencies is important. Using recent cross-country data, this paper analyzes the interrelationships between corruption, shadow economy, and cryptocurrencies. We argue that a large underground sector in a nation provides a mechanism through which corrupt government officials use cryptocurrencies to conceal their unauthorized earnings. Employing formal mediation analysis, our results show that the positive nexus between corruption and cryptocurrency adoption is mediated by the shadow sector. Quantitatively speaking, three-fourths of the correlation between corruption and cryptocurrency usage is mediated by the shadow economy. The primary implication of our findings is that effective monitoring of cryptocurrencies should pay attention to policies to control both corruption and the shadow economy.
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/crypto-backers-are-rogues-not-freedom-fighters-by-andres-velasco-2025-01
Ever since bitcoin was launched a decade and a half ago, crypto has been a solution in search of a problem. What is new is the chorus of deceivers, demagogues, dictators, and tax dodgers trying to convince us otherwise.
Global cryptocurrency use, corruption, and the shadow economy: New insights into the underlying linkages
https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12566
Abstract
The recent prevalence of digital currencies has challenged policymakers as they try to control the supply of money and rein in clandestine activities. Corruption and shadow economy are widely prevalent illegal/unobserved activities that have been hard to eliminate worldwide. These longstanding and entrenched activities have possibly found a new avenue to thrive and evade detection/punishment. So disentangling the nexus between corruption, shadow economy, and digital currencies is important. Using recent cross-country data, this paper analyzes the interrelationships between corruption, shadow economy, and cryptocurrencies. We argue that a large underground sector in a nation provides a mechanism through which corrupt government officials use cryptocurrencies to conceal their unauthorized earnings. Employing formal mediation analysis, our results show that the positive nexus between corruption and cryptocurrency adoption is mediated by the shadow sector. Quantitatively speaking, three-fourths of the correlation between corruption and cryptocurrency usage is mediated by the shadow economy. The primary implication of our findings is that effective monitoring of cryptocurrencies should pay attention to policies to control both corruption and the shadow economy.