The blockchain ledger on which Bitcoin transac-tions are recorded is an underutilized forensic tool that can be used more widely by law enforcement and the intelligence community to identify and dis-rupt illicit activities.
Bitcoin’s financial use is predominantly legal
The research conducted by the former CIA Director indicates that there is no data that supports two of the most common assertions regulators make when it comes to Bitcoin.(…) the common belief that Bitcoin is both primarily and increasingly used for purposes of illicit finance is “un-informed and not based on data” and that “there are no numbers and no methodologies” supporting it.Results from the polemic analytics firm Chainalysis indicate that of Bitcoin’s total activity, dating from 2017 to 2020, less than 1% is used for non-legal purposes. Further data provided by analytics firm CipherTrace claims that of BTC’s overall trading volume only 0.5% can be attributed to illicit activity. In contrast, fiat currencies’ use in non-legal transactions is estimated on the order of 2% to 4%. The report says:
A former CIA analyst added credence to the above estimates due in part to the difference in overall volume, most illicit activity still takes place in the traditional banking system and not via cryptocurrency.Therefore, Morell concluded that illicit use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is “not higher than it is in the traditional banking system”.
Bitcoin is trading at $63.063 with 4.9% profits in the past day. In the weekly and monthly chart, BTC has 7.5% and 2.9% gains respectively.