Cryptocurrencies are considered to be the future gold and they are attracting criminal activities. The medium of exchange has helped many people trade easily and earn profits and therefore it is hard to convince them of a market that can work like the way digital currency markets work.
There are so many advantages that are associated with cryptocurrencies but out of them, criminals have found some ways that make it easy to gain benefits. These aspects include the speed and access being not related, being easy to store, being anonymous, and having no attachment between the sender and the receiver.
Digital currencies are easy to store. Unlike the fiat currencies that have to be stored in either suitcases or boxes before being transferred to a bank with a requirement of physical space, the digital currencies are only stored in the digital wallets and no physicality is required. This aspect makes it easy for the criminals to store the digital currencies for there is no one to access the digital wallets and therefore it becomes easy to transfer the money without being seized.
It is easy to send or receive digital currencies across different borders. Transferring money to a different country in Africa one has to exchange the money via the bank when using the traditional currencies. This aspect has enabled people to trade even internationally but the criminals have found it an advantage to allow them to engage in trafficking activities.
There is no attachment between the sender and the receiver. Transferring fiat currencies involves the intermediaries at the bank and they restrict the transaction limiting parties who are known to each other before any transactions. The power of peer-to-peer transfer with no involvement of intermediaries in the digital currencies has enabled crypto to be sent without the acquaintance of each party before. This fact has been used by criminals to fund activities like terror activities and the selling of drugs.
Digital currency transfer is anonymous. Although the transactions are done and recorded, the transaction makers are not known. The transactions are done from one address to another. The address is usually set and it does not bring any link between it and the owner. This helps the criminals hide their identities when trading illegal things like weapons and even child pornography.
Transactions done using digital currencies are fast. It only requires an internet connection and a digital wallet and within minutes the money can be sent anywhere in the world. After the money is sent and confirmed by the miners then it is irreversible and therefore this has enabled criminals to compromise Twitter accounts to promote crypto falsely, an example is Joe Bidens and Barrack’s Twitter hacks in 2020.
Aspects that promote the use of cryptocurrency can at times be manipulated by criminals to make frauds out of them but to promote crypto more it is believed that a higher technology will come to curb criminal ways through crypto.
