Amount of money laundered via cryptos on pace to exceed $1.5 bln in 2018 - Report

CipherTrace, a tech company that offers cryptocurrency anti-money laundering (AML), blockchain forensics and enforcement solutions, recently published a report highlighting the rising amount of money laundered using cryptocurrencies in 2018. 

According to the report, both outright cryptocurrency theft and money laundering related to cryptocurrencies already tripled in the first half of 2018 when compared to the previous year.

“We’re basing it on things we have seen directly. That puts us on track for this year to probably see about $1.5 billion stolen through cryptocurrency, based on trends,” Dave Jevans, CEO of CipherTrace, said, as reported by American Banker's Penny Crosman.

Jevans also explained how people were able to stay anonymous using what's called 'money laundering mixing services.'

“These let people contribute funds into a combined pool that will scramble them up and try to use a different pool of liquidity that is not trackable on the blockchain, so there’s no linkage between them to deliver funds out to the receivers. These are written by highly skilled people who may have Ph.D.s, that are actively trying to avoid tracing.”