This week Quebec´s Chief Scientist, Rémi Quirion, published an article “Fact Check on Bitcoin”, examining the belief that Bitcoin is an “index of money laundering,” as BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink said in the last weeks.
Investigations concluded that there is not a meaningful relation between Bitcoin and criminal activities. One of the principal reasons is the fact that Bitcoin transactions can be easily tracked down by law enforcement agencies as they aren’t completely anonymous.
“Bitcoin is not above the law, nor is it a magnet for illicit transactions: it forms only a tiny part of the criminal money circulating around the planet. The reason: it is less attractive for anyone who wants to make transactions without leaving a trace,”
The Quebec government, citing a recent study form the Center for Sanctions and Illicit Finance of the Defense of Democracies Foundation, noted that only 0.61% of funds entering cryptocurrency trading and conversion platforms are linked to illicit activities (over a period of four years). And actually, it has declined over time from 1.07% in 2013, to 0.12% in 2016.
Cryptocurrencies like Monero, whose principal appeal is the privacy, have replaced, in a large scale, other cryptocurrency in activities like money laundry and movements in the dark web over the years, due to the difficulty to track transactions in these kinds of platforms.
Quirion’s article also clarified that statements of Bitcoin being unregulated become more inaccurate every day, due to increasing regulations local and national governments establish around the currency. Quebec is a good example where companies must obtain a business license before operating a cryptocurrency exchange in the province.
Read the original article here:
http://www.scientifique-en-chef.gouv.qc.ca/en/impacts-of-research-cat/ddr_bitcoin-dessus-lois-faux/ Study from Center for Sanctions and Illicit Finance of the Defense of Democracies Foundation: http://www.defenddemocracy.org/content/uploads/documents/MEMO_Bitcoin_Laundering.pdf
by Samuel Larreal
