U.S. Authorities Crack Down on Crypto ATMs Involved in Human and Drug Trafficking
Bitcoin ATMs are coming under some scrutiny for their lack of regulation. Read the full article by Jordan Major “Neither this post nor any other on cryptofal.com should be taken as financial advice. It is not.”
Bitcoin ATMs have been around for a long time mostly seen in stores or delis allowing people to instantly trade their cash for BTC and some even allow you to trade your BTC for cash on the spot. Just in 2021, the number of ATMs installed increased by a large amount. While it seems harmless there are many people that are using it to clean money from their illegal activities.
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report saying that registration rules for crypto ATMs should be subject to more restrictions for those who are trying to register one in their store. This report also found a correlation between the uptick in Bitcoin ATM usage and human and drug trafficking.
“As [crypto] market usage expands, FBI officials said they expect to see an increase in the use of virtual currency kiosks for illicit purposes, including for human and drug trafficking,” the report revealed.
The increase in popularity for illicit use is that the ATMs are less regulated than trading platforms which makes it even harder to track. Kiosk owners are not required by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to disclose the location of their kiosks which makes it even harder to monitor transactions.
In the report, the GAO is asking the IRS and FinCEN to work together for the evaluation of registered ATMs. This report also unearthed that 36% of all US Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations involving and 85% of US postal service investigations digital assets were tied to drug trafficking. The black market and crypto have always been tied together and this is another good example of their relationship. Once they do actually put these regulations into place digital assets can start to separate themselves from this.