Less than 1% of all Bitcoin Transactions Linked to Illicit Activity
One of the main criticism that has been made when it comes to the cryptocurrency market has been the fact that this market could be linked to illicit activity and serious criminal activity such as money laundering and financing terrorism. Well, now a new study has shown how much link this market really has with criminal activities.
The study was conducted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Center of Sanctions and Illicit Finance and company Elliptic. The study was focused on finding out where illicit funds have ended up on the bitcoin market between 2013 and 2016. The study found that despite what people may initially think, the share of funds of illicit origin is quite low.
Study says the share of funds of illicit origin is less than 1% of all bitcoin transactions
So, according to this study less than 1% of all bitcoin transitions are linked to money laundering. Furthermore, according to this study the number has decreased a lot along with the interest that investors and regulators have given the cryptocurrency market.
According to the study, people willing to break the law were among the early adopters of cryptocurrencies. The same study indicated that finding out exactly how much bitcoin is used for illicit activities is impossible. However, the researchers conducting this study were able to use Elliptic's "forensic" blockchain network data in order to find out which are the methods used and the share of money laundering on the market.
The study indicated that:
“This joint study provides insights for policymakers and financial industry leaders who want to better understand illicit finance risks arising from bitcoin and formulate ways to enhance Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance among cryptocurrency businesses.”
The study included no less than 120 exchanges and around 50% of illicit activity volume was linked to just two exchanges that operate in the European Union. The study also found that darknet marketplaces feature more than 97% of illicit funds liked to bitcoin.
