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Although cryptocurrencies have been linked to unlawful activities in the past, the significant mention of Bitcoin throughout the indictment could strengthen the examination of the new financial sector, which is already viewed with skepticism by many regulators. [19659003"BitcoinfacesthesameperceptualchallengesthattheearlyInternetdid"saidJerryBritoexecutivedirectoroftheVirtualMoneyPolicyandNonprofitAdvocacyCornerCenter"Goodpeoplecanuseitandbadguyscanuseit"
Mueller 's accusation that the Russians conspired to launder the equivalent of more than $ 95,000 for "facilitating the purchase of infrastructure used in their hacking activity" during the year. 2016 presidential election They used a "network of structured transactions to capitalize on the perceived anonymity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin," the statement said.
Spies engaged in a practice called mining – using a computer to help process Bitcoin transactions and save – to help fund their equipment purchases, the Mueller team alleged. They also used dummy accounts and one or more exchanges with third parties to try to hide who they were and what they did.
Although Bitcoin is a pseudonym – which means that it masks the identities of users with long alphanumeric keys in its public registry, lawyers and law enforcement say that the record public facilitates follow-up.
Yet, early this year, the Treasury Department expressed concern that a number of companies involved in virtual currencies, particularly those located outside the United States, would do not respect the basic standards of the fight against money laundering.
"There are significant challenges in investigating foreign money market businesses, because most jurisdictions do not regulate and supervise virtual currency transactions," writes a Treasury official to Senator Ron Wyden (D -OR e). set cryptocurrencies.
Russia, in particular, seems to want to use technology to escape the influence of the United States on the financial system. According to published reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the potential of digital currencies to bypbad the "limits" of international finance during its annual national television viewing session.
A Russian stock exchange, BTC-e, was closed last summer. the wing of the fight against money laundering, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, to "willfully violate" the law. One of the operators of BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, a Russian, was arrested in Greece; the FBI was one of the coordinating agencies with FinCEN on the operation.
According to the Associated Press, Vinnik was extradited to France, where he was also charged on Friday with money laundering and other crimes related to the exchange.
And last year, Russia sent an agent from its other primary intelligence service, FSB, to lead a delegation to an international standardization conference focused on blockchain software.
Mark Meadows and Ted Budd, two Republicans in North Carolina, introduced bills to reinforce the fight against money laundering in virtual currencies
. an inter-agency working group to combat the illegal use of digital resources. But they would not significantly change the legal treatment of these currencies – a major fear of the industry and its supporters.
Brito, of Coin Center, acknowledged the problem of Bitcoin's image and other digital badets, but he said that he did not think that law enforcement would require a change in their legal treatment.
