Crypto money laundering fears are unfounded

Skinner, who is Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club, writes in a blog that he disagrees with the “confused people” who say Bitcoin is just for money laundering. He points to a recent report from the joint Bitcoin analysis team of Ellicit and FDD, which found less than 1% of all Bitcoin transactions involve money laundering.

“And criminals are starting to realise that cryptocurrencies aren’t anonymous as their transactions are very public, traceable, permanent and provide a substantial source of data for analysis,” he says. “So why would you use them for illegal activities, when everyone can see what you’re doing?”

Skinner argues a global network demands a global currency to enable fast and free exchange of value. However, he says it is unlikely this currency will be Bitcoin because it has too many technology failings.

The Digital Bank author also states that he is “not a fan” of markets that are unregulated: “I’ve been involved in several start-up cryptos and ICOs that rapidly unravel and demonstrate little resilience or robustness. I lost money on MtGox and definitely don’t believe in cryptocurrencies that have billions in market capitalisation but were invented as a joke. In other words, these markets need regulations, even though they don’t want them.”

He believes the aversion to the regulation of cryptocurrencies is like privacy, arguing that the only people who worry about governments tracking and tracing them are those who don’t want to be tracked and traced. “Just as with privacy, cryptocurrency is the same, and regulations are coming whether the crypto folks like it or not,” he adds.