Crimes with Cryptocurrencies Are in the List of Economic Crimes in Great Britain

Maria Rodríguez
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Crimes with Cryptocurrencies Are in the List of Economic Crimes in Great Britain

As part of a plan to counteract the financing of terrorism and money laundering, this region establishes an agreement of independent actions where it includes cryptocurrencies as a risk factor.

As part of a set of actions that had been planned since January for a better economic control and legislation, the government of Great Britain has prepared a new document that specifies new legal changes to face financial crimes and, among them, the crimes related to cryptoactives.

The document prepared and drafted by Her Majesty’s Treasury, and the Ministry of Interior of the United Kingdom, is a manual which contains the actions that must be taken to counteract the financial crimes that are also linked to cryptocurrencies, including theft, fraud, corruption, bribery and money laundering, among others.

The amendment to the laws related to these crimes is a way to face the new financial approaches that are taking global boom and that seeks to establish a new regulation to attack economic crime in the region. In addition, the amendment helps to establish a better alliance between the British government and private companies, which hope to strengthen their security levels.

The main objective of the plan is to establish a better alternative to the suggestions and regulations proposed by the FATF to deal with cryptographic matters. It is for this reason that through the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), they will impose an action plan against the cryptocurrencies used to conduct money laundering, as well as the diversion of resources due to corruption and terrorist financing.

The plan has the approval of all legal, public and private sectors, such as private companies linked to cryptocurrencies, chiefs of security and public order forces,legal organizations, as well as Sajid Javid,who was Minister ofInterior and the British Parliament member Philip Hammond.

The plan to improve legal resources to counteract financial crimes will start from a set of premises that will set the route for its establishment. Among these premises, the plan to improve the understanding of new technologies is highlighted in order to finally detect the threats that these assets might bring.

Another objective is to ensure that all rigorous procedures and tools at the hands of the authorities are in full capacity for the application of justice, as well as develop recovery methods for financial crimes and, thus, improve crime risk management in all sectors of the country. Finally, another plan is to expand the improvement of transparency systems, with the aim to certify the ownership of legal agreements and legal entities.

In the central context of the legal agreement, it is important to emphasize that despite this is a document that invites to work together to achieve the same objective, an independence is established between the actions of each cooperative. This forces entities and organizations to conduct investigations in order to avoid money laundering and the use of resources to finance terrorism, using cryptocurrencies or fiat money.

By María Rodríguez

Bitcoin ATMs are a Problematic Topic for Money Laundering Laws, Per the Spanish Police

Josselyn Avila
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Bitcoin ATMs are a Problematic Topic for Money Laundering Laws, Per the Spanish Police

As cryptocurrencies, and most specifically Bitcoin, grow in prominence and usage, governments and authorities around the world become more concerned about the rules of that use. That is why the regulation of these assets has been such a controversial topic in several locations.

In this case, Spanish law enforcement agencies identify Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) as potentially problematic spots for money laundering laws, specifically to the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. The piece of news was reported by Bloomberg this week.

A 9 Million Euros Transaction

According to the publication made by the specialized site, the police in Spain busted a local group of criminals that took advantage of Bitcoin ATMs to perform a 9 million euros (approximately $10 million) transaction to people connected to drug traffic in Colombia and other nations.

The site uses representatives of the Guardia Civil, one of Spain’s law enforcement agencies, as sources, which preferred to stay anonymous. They explain that the band hired to machines from trading sites and proceeded to install them in an office located in the nation’s capital city, Madrid.

To perform their shady acts, the gang misguided people into thinking the office was actually a center for remittances and crypto trading services. Instead, the criminals took advantage of the situation and the physical settings to transfer funds from bank accounts to trading ecosystems to obtain cryptocurrencies (via QR codes or numerical codes,) which were sent to the drug dealers previously mentioned.

Two BTC ATMs, 20 Online Wallets and Four Cold Wallets Confiscated

The law enforcement organization seized two BTC ATMs, 20 online wallets, and four could wallets in the raid. As Bloomberg observes, prosecutors are in the process of proving that there was a correlation between the confiscated digital goods and the machines in question.

Bitcoin ATMs are quickly growing in popularity, as they represent a smoother transition to people unfamiliarized with crypto exchanges that want to acquire digital assets. They are relatively new, but despite their youth, they are already spread around the world.

In fact, at the moment of writing this piece, there are over 5,400 machines already installed in dozens of locations, most of which were deployed over the last year, per Coin ATM Radar’s data. Eighty-nine of those devices are in Spanish soil. Owners of crypto ATMs do not have to respect any strict AML laws, but that may be about to change in the EU.

Defining Bitcoin

As Bloomberg reports, in a separated case, Spanish Supreme Court ruled that Bitcoins are not legal electronic money but are assets, “and that any repayment of the fraud would need to happen in euros. The Civil Guard officials said the ruling was welcome because it starts to define Bitcoin.”

This is not the first case of its kind, and the situation has already prompted other locations to search for possible solutions to alleviate the risk of using ATMs as means for money laundering. For instance, Vancouver, a Canadian city, was considering banning these machines for similar concerns.

By Andres Chavez

Facebook Confirms that Libra Is Not a Cryptocurrency

Willmen Blanco
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Facebook Confirms that Libra Is Not a Cryptocurrency

According to its co-creator, Libra does not seek to replace banks or governments in the issuance of money. This instrument could facilitate access to financial services for the unbanked.

Libra’s Co-creator David Marcus appeared at the US Congress to answer some questions about Facebook’s cryptocurrency before senators. According to him, Libra is not a cryptocurrency, it does not intend to control the flow of money from the country or other countries, and it could be an opportunity for the unbanked to have access to financial services.

The last week, 2019, Marcus was questioned by a number of senators about the various implications of Libra. A set of issues, such as privacy, financial scope, as well as the possibility that other development teams create wallets to handle Libra transactions, were addressed.

Marcus highlighted the technical and development work conducted by Facebook:

“We have worked and developed this technology. We have invested in the best talents within the industry and the engineering needed for its development. Then we opened its code. That will help promote its development and the growth of the network during the process.”

One aspect on which Marcus and the Senators insisted several times during the hearing was Libra’s nature: the Facebook project is not a cryptocurrency but it is a means of payment. “Libra is planned to be used as cash, as a payment tool,” Marcus said regarding the subject.

The Facebook executive stressed that Libra does not seek to replace governments and banks in the issuance of money, but it only aims at offering a tool that makes payments easier worldwide.

Marcus believes that with Libra there will be the possibility of achieving an important economic evolution. He explained that unbanked citizens with low-end smartphones will be able to “move from cash economy to digital economy.” With respect to this case, Marcus explained to the congressional senators that Calibra, Facebook’s official wallet for the Libra token, will offer full support to US users, as well as compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) policies.

In addition, when questioned on the subject, although somehow reluctantly, Marcus assured that he would be willing to keep all his wealth in Libra. The executive also explained that the code will be open for the development of other programmers outside of the Libra Association, and that, although WhatsApp and Messenger will not include other predefined wallets beyond Calibra, the Libra Association will be open to allow creating these new types of software.

On the other hand, when questioned/asked/interrogated about the confidence in the value of Libra, comparing its operation with fiduciary money, which is administered by banks, Marcus said that this means of digital payment will be supported by a reserve of different commodities, not as a fraction but as a total value, like a reserve basket.

Finally, he noted that, in the event of a crash similar to those suffered by banks in the United States about ten years ago, they have the necessary permissions and comply with the safeguard policies required to serve US citizens.

By Willmen Blanco

South Korean Companies Will Create Virtual ID Based on Blockchain ​​Technology

Maria Rodríguez
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South Korean Companies Will Create Virtual ID Based on Blockchain ​​Technology

It is expected that in the middle of 2020 the project that would use blockchain technology for digital identification of Korean citizens through smartphones will be launched as an application with high security

According to press reports, some companies of great importance in South Korea would be developing, together, a system of virtual identifications that will be deposited in the mobile devices of citizens.

The report states that some companies are programming a method that helps the citizens of that country to have a digital ID on their cell phones. With this ID, users can identify themselves and perform some paperwork with them.

The group of companies that have made an alliance in order to create together the appropriate platform (one that supports the identification system) is planning to use blockchain technology for its assembly, and also adapt it to be used with smartphones.

The purpose of the system is to store all the personal information of each user, such as the registration of the country’s resident number, room address, contact numbers, even more specific and sensitive information, including banking information. In this way, the user could use all his/her data quickly, get support. In addition, the user will enjoy the service of a system with high security offered by blockchain.

The companies involved in the project say that they plan for the system to be used by individuals and organizations. The aim is to help users to have more control over their personal information, as well as the recorded information of any transaction made on Internet. All this information will be of fast access for users in a simple way, speeding up the completion of procedures and operations.

The Companies behind the Digital Identification in South Korea

Among the Korean companies that are involved in this digital identification project by blockchain, are KEB Hana Bank, Woori Bank, Telecom, KT, LG and Samsung Electronics.

In this sense, it is concluded that the financial institutions involved in the project will provide all the necessary certification services so that the user can access all the banking operations.

On the other hand, the technology companies will guarantee to enable all the necessary services for the operation of the platforms in the mobile telephone systems. Samsung Electronics will be in charge of assembling an entire storage and administration system for all the data that will be inside the platform.

The companies involved in the project hope that this novel system would be available to Koreans by mid-2020 and that it would be one of the most innovative ones in the world. Although some countries in Europe already use cell phones to implement a digital identification system, this will be the first project that would involve blockchain technology.

This is not the only project of this nature in the world. In countries such as Brazil and Japan similar projects are being developed to potentiate the benefits of blockchain technology and use it in a personal identification network for its citizens, as well as to facilitate the completion of procedures and operations.

By María Rodríguez

Facebook Made the World Talk about Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

Willmen Blanco
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Facebook Made the World Talk about Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

The Facebook project has brought the subject of cryptocurrencies to the forefront. Surely, Bitcoin will benefit from all this global attention to Libra.

Since announcing the launch of Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra, the entire ecosystem has been wondering if this will be good or bad for Bitcoin or the cryptocurrency market in general. With all the events that have occurred until now, it seems that the influence of Libra will be positive for both.

This conclusion can be reached after seeing people talking about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, since it used to be a subject that only interested connoisseurs and enthusiasts, that is, topics that were only discussed on specialized portals like CryptoWorldJournal. The releases mention Facebook’s cryptocurrency, which continuously brings Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their audiences’ minds, which allows informing about Bitcoin’s existence to a larger percentage of the population.

Petro’s announcement had a similar impact on Venezuela, where most people learned about something called “cryptocurrency.” In regards to Facebook, its scale is much larger because of the platform’s global reach. Thanks to this new wave of diffusion generated by the announcement of Facebook’s cryptocurrency, it can be assured that more people have learned that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies exist.

Something interesting about all this is the fact that the world’s governments are promoting all this diffusion. It is hard to predict that the president, the treasury secretary and the director of the federal reserve of the United States will pronounce on Bitcoin and Facebook’s cryptocurrency in the same week. All these announcements are news, so mass media will not the chance to cover and broadcast them.

Not only the United States, but also different countries worldwide including England, France, Germany, Japan and Mexico, inter alia, are talking about cryptocurrencies. Something that both advertising and social networks teach very well is that people talking good or evil about someone is not what really matters but that they do it.

One factor that can be considered positive for Bitcoin is all the intense diffusion about Facebook’s cryptocurrency. Another one, in the case that Libra is actually launched, is that it will surely be another means for capital, and probably other cryptocurrencies, to enter the Bitcoin market.

Since 2018 the offer of cryptocurrencies with a value anchored to a national currency, known as stablecoins, has increased considerably. This type of digital asset contributes to providing the cryptocurrency market with greater liquidity. There might be greater amount of liquidity entering the cryptocurrency market if Libra is launched, since it was planned as a stablecoin, and if it has exchange parity with several cryptocurrencies. Surely, it would prevent the violent price drops that may happen in the cryptocurrency market.

In other words, these are some reasons why Libra could positively affect Bitcoin. Of course, some negative effects cannot be discarded, such as initially promoting inadequate regulation on decentralized cryptocurrencies or significantly displacing Bitcoin as a means of payment. What is evident is that this new wave of attention on cryptocurrencies adds a greater favorable weight rather than possible adverse reactions.

By Willmen Blanco

British MP Expresses Concern about Libra and Wants to Probe it

Andres Chavez
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British MP Expresses Concern about Libra and Wants to Probe it

This past June, Facebook finally revealed the details of its cryptocurrency project, Libra. It will be up and running in the Libra network in the first half of next year, and yet, the industry cannot stop talking about it. The social network has created an unmatched amount of comments about the Libra stablecoin, both positive and negative.

For the latter, the primary issue seems to be, at least according to central banks and governments, regulating its use and making sure it shows compliance with the current legal framework in several locations around the world. That appears to be Libra’s most important barrier to overcome in its path towards success.

“It is Going to Be Open to Massive Fraud”

The latest comments are coming from the United Kingdom, where Damian Collins, who is currently the Chairman of the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee; states that the Libra ecosystem is bound to be to be open to massive fraud. He says that the British Parliament wants to probe it.

Collins has not been shy in the past about his criticism of Facebook, arguably the biggest and most prominent social network in the globe. The senior official at the British Parliament said in the past few hours that he wants to probe Facebook’s latest crypto venture.

Darren Collins is also known for conducting an investigation on Facebook after the well-publicized Cambridge Analytical data controversy, one that lasted roughly a year and a half. In an interview with specialized site Financial News, Collins once again showed criticism towards the social media outlet.

Too Much Power in Facebook’s Hands

According to Collins, Facebook will have too much power thanks to the rise and appearance of Libra, amid concerns about the company’s ability to responsibly process financial data of a very wide user community, one that can reach billions of people. He identifies the long list of privacy scandals that Facebook has undergone for the last few years as examples of his remarks.

Per Collins, Libra “is going to be open to massive fraud,” because it will be created, developed, and controlled by the company itself, and will not be able to be accessed by any person outside of what he calls “Facebook walled garden.” Mark Zuckerberg, one of Facebook’s leaders, has defended the project in the past few weeks by saying that since there are other investors and entities involved, Facebook will only have one vote in deciding things.

According to Collins’ remarks, he seems to think that Libra will let Facebook turn itself into its own nation, with no physical boundaries. He fears that only Mark Zuckerberg will supervise and administrate the “country” he refers to.

A Risky Proposition

Regulators in the Great Britain remain scared of the potential privacy risks with everything Facebook-related. Back in February, the British MP proposed that Facebook needed to have a different treatment when it comes to regulations, in an attempt to make sure the citizens’ rights were protected from the network, as it “intentionally breached data privacy and competition law.”

Back then, Collins said that “the age of inadequate self-regulation must end,” and that Facebook had “intentionally and knowingly violated both data privacy and anti-competition laws.” According to the MP, the company provided incomplete and misleading answers to enquiries by the nation’s authorities.

By Andres Chavez

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