A major blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis, recently published a report revealing that bitcoins tainted with crime worth $2.8 billion were laundered via crypto exchanges. The firm suggests that crypto exchanges could have caught illicit bitcoin through KYC measures.
More than half of illicit bitcoins were laundered through Binance and Huobi.
According to Chainalysis, 27.5% of all the illicit bitcoin that they traced in 2019 were laundered through crypto exchange Binance and 24.7% on Huobi. Rest 47.8% were laundered via different exchanges all over the world. The blockchain analysis firm notes that although illicit Bitcoin was sent to 300,000 exchange accounts, much of that Bitcoin was concentrated in several large accounts.
Can exchanges block illicit bitcoins?
Huobi and Binance are among the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges. The blockchain analysis firms argue that exchanges could have caught illicit bitcoin proceeds by implementing more strict KYC regulations. Although it is important to catch criminals who use bitcoin to launder money but more stringent rules may do more harm than good if they prevent legitimate investors from circulating cryptocurrency as well. Several exchanges still believe in providing anonymity to their users and not to interfere with the flow of crypto.
