Are Criminals Really Switching From Crypto to Gold for Money Laundering?

Organized UK criminals are increasingly using gold to wash and hide revenue from their activities, the report states Daily Mail.

As Price of gold remains close to a record high twist of nearly $ 3,400, report He states anecdotic evidence of increased use of gold among British criminals.

Refers to one case of drug distributor Essex who is 2024 the police found have $ 32.425 worth of solid gold coins hidden in a safe as well as Case 2022. Bardingham gangs who turned part of their $ 135,100 into golden rods.

Another example was CONSIDERATION IN Bradford earlier this year multiple gang members who washed close to $ 359.4 million by buying a golden grain, which is easier to cover up than Bullion, which was largely sent from the UK.

Speaking Daily Mail, Legal advisor Gary Carroll explained that, as far as criminals are concerned, valuable metal has different advantages over cash.

“Gold allows criminals to reduce 10,000 pounds of drug money into an object that can fit into the palm of your hand,” he said. “Another benefit is that gold tends to appreciate value.”

Carroll also cites technological and social reasons for a registered turning to gold, including the transition to the mainly cash society.

However, citing newspapers in three incidents in the last three years does not mean persuading evidence of growing trend, with reliable data on the use of noble metals by the criminals of rare ones who did not exist.

Speaking DecipherAri Redbord, a global boss of politics and government affairs in Labs TRM, admits that criminal use of gold could “may” increase without providing full support for such a request.

“But it’s hard to quantify, because gold is not moving on Blockchain,” he says. “This is exactly why criminals use this because it is opaque.”

Despite confirmation that there is not enough evidence or data to conclude that gold is becoming more popular, Redbord still confirms that TRM Labs sometimes testifies to “convergences” in the values ​​used by criminals.

“ [2016] Bitfinex case There was one example in which the hackers bought gold grids as part of the washing of stolen crypto revenue, “he explained.

The record also admits that gold has long been a preferred money laundering tool, mainly because of its portability, value and impassion.

“There was also evidence in reporting the US government, such as national treasury assessments, pointing to gold as a method for avoiding sanctions and washing revenue from corruption or drug trade,” he adds.

In terms of whether gold is desirable crypto from an organized crime perspective, Redbord also accepts that gold does not leave a “digital trace of bread bread” in the way most of the crypto currency.

“But it’s also difficult, it’s hard to transport in large quantities and risky – you can lose it or it can be taken away,” he said.

Crypto is basically the opposite, given that it can move immediately on the limits, although it can usually be monitored (unless the mixers or privacy coins are included).

“In the TRM, we help agencies for law enforcement around the world are following these flows, recovery of stolen funds and dismantled networks,” Redbord explains. “It’s a lot harder to do with gold.”

As such, it seems that gold will continue to play a role in money laundering, even if the use of cryptocurrencies has increased among crypts in recent years, with The latest report on cryptocurrency crypton that detects These illegal addresses received up to $ 51.3 billion last year with cryptocurrencies.

Edited Stacy Elliott.