Cryptocurrency is new vogue: a reflection on money laundering prevention

It has been argued that with the increasing crypto economy and the liquidity of cryptocurrency globally, cryptocurrency could potentially serve as another vehicle for money laundering activities. Yet, only a handful of studies probe the emerging nexus between cryptocurrency and money laundering and the feasibility of anti-money laundering (AML) strategies presented by law enforcement and financial institutions from a criminologist’s perspective. Therefore, this study uses the literature on money laundering to analyze the features of cryptocurrency that account for its popularity. A money laundering triangle is presented that corresponds with the use of cryptocurrency from within a criminological framework. This study also suggests that in addition to domestic and international interagency cooperation across jurisdictions, future developments should target the characteristics of cryptocurrencies such as anonymity, decentralization and blockchain which could help make cryptocurrency usage less attractive to motivated offenders across money laundering stages.