Amidst growing fear of Bitcoin and other digital currencies being used for illegal purposes, such as money laundering, the Europol has recently set up a group meant to combat the process with the help of bitcoin.
According to recent reports, the launch of the Bitcoin money laundering division by the Europol, as a result of their partnership with the INTERPOL and the Basel Institute of Governance, may actually prove beneficial for the industry.
To put things better into perspective, upon launch, the Europol claimed that the main aims of the division setup are to: gather, exchange and analyse information on the use of digital currencies for money laundering and the recovery of the proceeds; organize annual meetings and workshops for the representatives of law enforcement agencies in charge with dealing with money laundering, meant to improve their ability of investigating crimes where bitcoin and other altcoins are involved; and last but not least, to create a network of experts and practitioners in this field, who can establish what the best practices are to deal with the issue, while also providing agencies with support, assistance and recommendations.
At this moment in time, numerous members of the bitcoin community may be against the setup, yet there are several reasons showcasing why the decision is actually good for the industry. Experts believe that the task force will not turn into a group of people meant to hunt down the digital currency community, but rather prevent crime and increase the trust that others have in the currency.
In a recent interview, Jonathan Chester, a member of the working group stated that: “This development will provide insight to lawmakers into the current risk profile of the users of this technology. Many in the community believe that the use of digital currency in terrorist financing is low to non-existent, and this group will be able to support or disprove this claim. Should the claim be supported it would very likely help to alleviate many of the banking pressures that startups in the digital currency industries face. Should it be disproved, then we would begin testing the true nature of Blockchain transparency”.
Other prominent members of the digital currency community believe that nothing bad will happen once the task force starts operating. Instead, consumers will get access to a much better form of protection against online criminals. Not only this, but the Bitcoin network will not be affected in anyway. This means that people are free to continue using bitcoin as they like, as long as they don’t take part in illegal activities, such as terrorism financing, money laundering etc.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, what do you personally think about the launch of the Europol anti-bitcoin-money laundering task force? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.