Nasdaq: banks remain the main channel for financial crimes | Lado Okhotnikov

Lado Okhotnikov: Regulators Fight Cryptocurrencies While Banks Launder Trillions

A recent statement by the SEC head in which he called the cryptocurrency industry full of scams and scammers, has caused lively discussions. In his speech, Gary Gensler expressed concerns about integrity in the crypto space, emphasizing that this market is subject to a high level of risk.

However, this did not prevent the regulator from making a positive decision in early January regarding Bitcoin-ETF spot trading.

“While we today have approved the listing and trading of certain exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the price of Bitcoin, this does not mean that we approve or support Bitcoin itself...”, said the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in his address in honor of the listing and launch of trading a number of spot shares of an exchange-traded product.

The head of the Commission summed up his speech with the following words,

“...Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies carry many risks, including high volatility, lack of transparency, potential fraud and market manipulation...”

Lado Okhotnikov found some contradictions in this and commented on the situation as follows,

“I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but just a few days later I read the Nasdaq Global Financial Crime Report, which outlined the extent of financial crime over the past year.”

Indeed, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies were not mentioned in the report. This further reinforced the public perception that cash is still the primary tool for committing crimes.

Meta Force Metaverse CEO Lado Okhotnikov is creating a platform for easy integration and efficient scaling to reach a wide range of users. Lado gives priority to decentralization, the project guarantees reliable protection of personal data and transactions. He sees enormous potential in the development of the virtual world and believes that decentralized solutions will allow us to build truly free and secure relationships.

The banking system set antirecords, and the cryptocurrency showed a “bullish” mood — Lado Okhotnikov about the results of the past year

Experts estimated that in 2023, about $3.1 trillion of crime money passed through the traditional financial system. The laundered funds were used for human and drug trafficking, as well as to finance terrorism.

Source: www.nasdaq.com

Of the $3 trillion in illicit funds, Nasdaq linked $782.9 billion to drug trafficking, $346.7 billion to human trafficking, and $11.5 billion to terrorist financing.

Nasdaq Chairman and CEO Adena T. Friedman wrote in her report that financial institutions have been at the forefront of combating fraud for decades. However, no single industry, technology, company or government can solve the complex problem of financial crime alone.

At the same time, the CEO of USDT issuer Tether, Paolo Ardoino, described the problem of trillions of dollars in illicit financial transactions as one that needs to be taken seriously. He also noted that in the current situation, victory can only be achieved through multilateral cooperation.

Gabor Gurbacs, director of digital asset strategy at investment firm VanEck, is of the opinion that banks and institutions are a “main conduit” for criminal activity.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Gurbach emphasized that Nasdaq has decided not to mention Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies or stablecoins in its reports. This may indicate that institutional investors do not think that cryptocurrency is the root of the problem when it comes to scams.

As the UN Commissioner rightly noted, these institutions (the World Bank, the IMF) need to be reformed, since the changes taking place in the world require adaptation of the existing mechanisms of global governance and regulation.

“...2022 has demonstrated the vulnerability of all countries in the face of infrastructure risks. We are also seeing a trend towards increasing restrictions on cross-border capital flows. The unleashed sanctions war actually blocks the possibilities of economic cooperation both at the international level...”, emphasized the Office of the UN High Commissioner.

New EU rules: verification of crypto exchange clients and transaction control

While everyone is fighting against cryptocurrency and talking about the rise in fraud, the wealth of the 5 richest people in the world continues to grow at a rate of $14 million per hour. But there is other news - perhaps within the next decade the world will have its first trillionaire.

And if you are not happy with either, then maybe this will improve your mood - the European Union intends to approve the introduction of new regulatory rules for cryptocurrency companies.

The European Parliament will soon expand legislation on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism through cryptocurrencies. In particular, regulators intend to introduce more stringent requirements for this sector.

Quite often, leaders, famous personalities and those who do not share the position in relation to cryptocurrencies argue that Bitcoin is needed solely for money laundering.

Here is a clear example of how much money was laundered using crypto and fiat:

USD was used 606 times more in the laundering process than crypto.

The statistics are clearly not in favor of traditional finance. It becomes clear why Lado Okhotnikov is indignant. A logical question would be why cryptocurrency is under pressure, while the traditional financial sector continues to operate as before.

“Politicians seem to be ignoring what is happening under their noses, perhaps deliberately. Instead of carefully monitoring the work of banks, they prefer to pass new laws regarding the use of cryptocurrency. Perhaps the decision to take real control of financial institutions is not so simple for those in power. After all, then we will have to close the shop, since it will be difficult to explain to the proletariat why this or that bank financed terrorism...” Lado emphasized.

Despite this, politicians are unshakable in their decisions and are steadily heading in a direction that is understandable to us. The new rules will affect a large part of the cryptocurrency industry. If the law is nevertheless adopted, then crypto companies will be required to verify their clients, and this is contrary to the concept of cryptocurrency - to be anonymous.

In addition, trading platforms will have to inform regulators of any suspicious transactions. According to the regulation, crypto exchanges will have to monitor all transactions worth €1,000 or more.

The proposed regulations are also intended to reduce the risks associated with non-custodial storage of crypto assets. That is, wallets that do not belong to any organization will also be subject to the law.

Conclusion

The controversy surrounding cryptocurrency has divided society into two camps. Opponents are confident that the introduction of cryptocurrency will lead to the loss of fiat dominance in the traditional financial settlements market. This concern is well founded as digital money will reduce the volume of transactions in traditional currencies and therefore negatively impact the banking sector.

Banks, as key players in the financial industry, naturally strive to maintain their profitability. Therefore, outlawing cryptocurrency seems to be a more attractive option for them.

Those who support cryptocurrency tend to distrust the banking sector. That is why they are not concerned about the prospect of reducing the dominance of fiat currency.

These disagreements reflect the struggle between old and new forms of financial technology. With the rapid development of the cryptocurrency market, their potential impact on traditional financial institutions is becoming a subject of discussion. The decision on whether cryptocurrency should be accepted as part of the financial system largely depends on what’s going to happen in the economy over the next two years.

Based on Dan Michael materials

The head of Meta Force Press Center

press@meta-force.space

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