Despite the measures taken by major public blockchain companies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple to get illicit behavior out of their networks, the rumor of cryptocurrencies being the perfect hub for money laundering and fraud has been killing the industry.
Bitcoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum have well-developed anti-fraud systems. With Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) mechanisms, crypto exchanges are making it much harder for criminals to engage in illicit behavior on their platforms.
With the non-anonymous nature of blockchain technology, governments are more and more motivated to make crypto exchange markets legitimate.
The latest move towards eliminating illegal actions on the blockchains came last week when Binance established cooperation with Chainalysis. The blockchain analysis company, Chainalysis, focuses on suspicious transactions and user addresses. The association will enhance Binance’s AML mechanism and help the legitimization of the crypto sector.
Companies in the crypto-realm all face one big issue – earning the trust of users, financial institutions, and regulators. We urge everyone to follow the example of Binance in building compliance programs to prevent money laundering on their exchange. This way the regulatory and financial institutions will be able to trust the crypto market more and more, according to Jonathan Levin, COO of Chainalysis statement in an interview.
In 2018, traditional financial institutions, such as Danske Bank and Nordic, have been accused of money laundering. Danske Bank received and laundered almost $250 million from criminal organizations, while Nordic has been reported to have received a few illicit transactions from banks in the Baltics.
“By working with Chainalysis, we are able to continue building a foundational compliance program that enables the next phase of our growth. Our vision is to provide the infrastructure for a blockchain ecosystem and increase the freedom of money globally while adhering to regulatory mandates in the countries we serve.”, Wei Zhao, CFO of Binance told about the partnership in an announcement.
During the high tide in 2017, with the crypto market seeing a market cap of $800 billion, cryptocurrencies have raised awareness in both crypto-friendly and non-friendly government administrations. With game-changers like Binance, the fourth industrial revolution seems closer, and it will ease the process of acknowledging and regulating the new payment methods.