This week has contained quite a lot of cryptocurrency-related news and sanctions. The think tank, Rusi, released a commentary about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the possible adverse effects of this development of the digital currency. There is a global interest in exploring this amid central banks. Among them, jurisdictions that are facing sanctions to bypass sanctions regimes. It also ties back into a news story from last week where the Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic in an excerpt from their upcoming report “Sanctions Compliance in crypto assets”, describes how Iran has turned to Bitcoin mining to evade the imposed sanctions on the country. The story about Iran took a bit of a turn this week when BBC came out with a news story about how Iran has banned cryptocurrency mining for four months. The heavy energy consumption it requires has caused unplanned blackouts.
Locally the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention released a report that shows that Sweden is rising to the top of the leader board in Europe regarding gun violence, hardly a positive attribution. So, what does gun violence have to do with money laundering? Eight out of ten shootings are connected to organised crime and driven by monetary incentives related to pre-courser offences to money laundering, mainly associated with drug offences. The Guardian has an article covering the debate, so head over to the stories for some weekend reading or head over to ThreatView for more information on precursor crimes to money laundering, crypto-crimes and sanctions.
Have a great weekend!
Links:
RUSI – The Other Side of the Digital Coin: Central Bank Digital Currencies and Sanctions
Elliptic – How Iran uses bitcoin mining to evade sanctions
BBC News – Iran banes cryptocurrency mining for four months after blackout
The Guardian – Fatal shootings have risen in Sweden despite fall across Europe