The Australian government believes it has honed in on the cause of increased organized crime. According to an (ACIC) report, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are to blame. Officials in the country suggest cryptocurrency usage in organized crime has run rampant. The report clarified the government’s position: “The two key enabling technologies currently used to facilitate serious and organised crime are virtual currencies and encryption. Virtual currencies, such as bitcoin, are increasingly being used by serious and organised crime groups as they are a form of currency that can be sold anonymously online, without reliance on a central bank or financial institution to facilitate transactions.”
Cryptocurrency and Exchanges Facilitate Crime; Australia CrackdownThe Australian government further states that bitcoin exchanges are largely to blame. They do not have enough transparency and regulatory oversight, suggests Australian officials. In this sense, they are basically allowing all manner of crime to proliferate. Austrian justice minister Michael Keenan, states bitcoin can be traded anonymously and is significantly traded on international exchanges.
This information follows recent bill introduced by Australian politicians to regulate exchanges and altcoins. The bill is meant to help the Australian government fight terrorism. News.Bitcoin.com covered the story a few weeks ago;
"This legislation is part of the country’s first stage of reforms “to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act and increase the powers of the Australian Transactions and Reporting Analysis Centre (Austrac),” according to the announcement. Austrac is the country’s financial intelligence agency responsible for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regulations."
>>> https://news.bitcoin.com/australia-believes-bitcoin-is-causing-organized-crime-to-proliferate/
