Reports Show Government Intends To Imply Stricter Regulations On Cryptocurrency ATMs
January 19 2022 - 5:00PM
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In a press release yesterday, the federal agency stated that crypto
kiosks, or cryptocurrency ATMs, played a major role in the
increasing crimes. The United States GAO (Government Accountability
Office) blames crypto kiosks for increasing drug trafficking and
human trafficking. Their reason, however, was that cryptocurrency
ATMs aren’t as restricted as crypto exchanges, making their
transactions harder to track. The GAO projects that it can be more
difficult to curtail illegal transactions as crypto kiosks are
becoming more and more popular in the U.S. and worldwide. Related
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Digital Payments To salvage these impending problems arising from
crypto kiosks, the GAO recommended that the Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and IRS cooperate to place more
effective regulations on crypto ATMs. While observing the
challenges in battling crypto-related crimes, GAO explained that
the lack of information about crypto kiosks restrains law
enforcement’s capability to defeat crime. Several Agencies Battle
Crypto Crimes In the report, GAO also observes how, globally,
cryptocurrencies are used in facilitating crimes and trafficking.
Also, agencies have arisen to resist the increase of
crypto-associated crimes. These agencies include the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S Postal Service (USPS), and even
the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Irregularities of Crypto
Crimes Although the study shows that crypto-related crimes have
upsurged irregularly. Recently, a new report from the crypto
research company showed the contrary. In the latter research’s
findings, crypto crimes reached their lowest point in 2021-contrary
to its increasing volume of the entire blockchain transactions in
the year. Thus, as cryptocurrencies become more adopted,
crypto-related crimes will simultaneously increase. However, the
expansion of overall crypto transactions is far-outperforming some
criminal activity. Crypto Kiosks And Human Trafficking The GAO’s
report showed that cryptocurrency has recently been adopted as a
means of payment for human trafficking. By ‘human trafficking,’ we
imply sex trafficking and labor trafficking. More commonly, sex
traffickers now adopt cryptocurrencies as a payment option. Crypto
ATMs And Drug Trafficking The report also stated that after the
shutdown of Silk Road-the online dark web market—in 2013, the
entire hidden web marketplace has become more secure. Thus, making
the marketplace for illicit drugs more difficult for the law to
detect. Again, this is because of the growth of smaller
marketplaces. Tightening Gaps Against Cryptocurrency ATMs The GAO’s
problem with cryptocurrency ATMs is that, although the ATM
operators must be registered with the FinCEN, they don’t usually
notify law enforcement agencies about their ATMs’ locations. That
action impedes the federal agencies’ access to locate ATMs in areas
stated as high-risk regions for financial crimes. Related Reading
| American Rapper Lil Baby On Holding Bitcoin And Ethereum
Over Fiat Thus, by increasing regulations on cryptocurrency ATMs,
the GAO presumes that enforcing the government will access better
information. Also, they will be able to locate potentially illegal
transactions. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from
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