The US government agency known as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) claims that bitcoin is being used as a money laundering method through trade with China.
The US Department of Justice published a report detailing the US government’s efforts to fight drug trafficking. The report includes a section that refers, specifically, to cryptocurrencies, noting that criminals are using them to launder money through China-based trade operations.
“Many Chinese-based companies that manufacture goods that are used in money laundering now prefer to accept Bitcoin. Bitcoin is very popular in China because it can be used to transfer money, anonymously, abroad, bypassing the government controls of that country”, says the report published by the DEA.
Although the US government denounces this system used by criminals, it gives no statistics on the matter. The concern about large-scale money laundering now being reported by the DEA adds to the well-known problem of using bitcoin and other crypto-coins for illicit transactions within the US.
