The Wall Street Journal revealed that Chinese crime gangs are using cryptocurrencies to launder billions of dollars, including money raised from helping to supply drugs to the United States or defrauding American victims.
The American newspaper explained that these gangs are exploiting the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency markets to evade the control of Chinese and foreign authorities.
They stated that they used cryptocurrencies to launder the profits of drug trafficking and illegal gambling, and they also made huge amounts of money from investment fraud that promised easy returns in the cryptocurrency markets.
Research firm Chainalysis said in a report last year that cryptocurrency addresses linked to a group of suspected chemical dealers in China had received assets worth more than $37.8 million since 2018 in exchange for shipping a key component of fentanyl.
According to the newspaper, these shipments are often sent to Central American countries and Mexico, where drug gangs use them to manufacture the drug, which is then shipped to the United States.
In October, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on a network of individuals and companies based in China for manufacturing and distributing ingredients used in fentanyl and other drugs.
Fentanyl consumption has become a major public health problem in the United States, contributing to the deaths of more than 100,000 people annually, according to the latest figures issued by the Centers for Disease Management and Prevention.
The newspaper reported that combating international drug trafficking was a rare point of understanding between China and the United States, after officials of the two countries agreed this year to work together to address this issue.
Beijing has for years taken a hard line against cryptocurrencies, forcing exchanges to close, banning trading and imprisoning executives who previously worked in the industry.
In late 2022, Chinese police arrested 63 suspects linked to a criminal group that used cryptocurrencies to launder the equivalent of approximately $1.7 billion, in an operation that included 17 provinces.
Zhao Dong, founder of major cryptocurrency platform RenrenBit, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2022, on charges of providing cryptocurrency exchange services to an illegal company involved in overseas gambling and investment fraud.
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2024-04-27 02:45:09
