Governments and financial institutions are still seeing cryptoccurrency linked with illegal activities, a new report says. Even people in the crypto space are not fully satisfied with crypto’s relation to illicit functions such as money laundering.
The survey conducted by asking several questions about cryptocurrency from financial regulators, and financial institutions. The findings of the survey show people think digital assets risky and do not fully believe in cryptocurrency.
RUSI’s Survey
The study entitled “Cryptocurrency Risk & Compliance Survey” is conducted by the UK-based Royal United Service Institute (RUSI). Respondents are not satisfied with present cryptocurrency regulations as there should be clear laws that would also prevent illicit activities involving digital assets. Additionally, they propagate that government bodies and international regulators will have to set clear rules and regulations for cryptocurrency.
69% of participants believe that digital currencies cannot replace the cash system because these are too volatile to adopt. Financial entities and government bodies label digital assets as a “significant source of risk.”
Study based on the responses from different sectors focuses on that institutional investors need to enter crypto space before crypto can be used for payments. But without proper regulatory actions, day-to-day payments in cryptocurrency are impossible.
Cryptocurrency Need Time to Become a New Normal
People who belong to the crypto ecosystem also consider cryptocurrency a risky investment due to the involvement of digital assets in illicit activities such as human trafficking and money laundering. “Respondents all expressed concern regarding the use of cryptocurrency by various illicit actors, ranging from terrorist groups to sanctioned actors and human traffickers,” RUSI’s report added.
However, all respondents agree on one positive thing about cryptocurrency that it will be a new normal in the next five years, but at the current state, they are not willing to trust a digital currency.
Not only cryptocurrency but fiat is also attracted by criminals for illicit functionalities. Recently, leaked FinCEN’s documents showed that world-leading banks were involved in money laundering.
In the past, there were many incidents reported in which cryptocurrency was involved in bad things. For instance, the US Justice Department got control over 300 crypto accounts. The accounts belonged to world’s top terrorist organizations including al-Qaeda, Hamas, and ISIS.