Europol Highlights Bitcoin Use Among Criminals

This week, Europol released its 2015 Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment, which summarizes the organization's views on cybercrime throughout the EU. This year's report included a great deal of information on bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency has become increasingly popular throughout the continent and policymakers have embraced it as a technological advance.

However, Europol's report was cautionary, saying that it sees bitcoin becoming an important tool for criminal activity and that it should be closely monitored.

A Currency For Criminals

The report said that 40 percent of criminals' payments to each other are carried out via bitcoin. Such figures suggest that bitcoin makes it easier for people to pay for criminal services, especially through marketplaces on the dark web. The Europol report named OpenBazaar as a site for law enforcement officials to closely monitor as the peer-to-peer nature of transactions are conductive to "crime-as-a-service" transactions.

Usage Increasing

Though bitcoin usage is increasing among the general public and big name merchants, many argue that it is increasing at a much faster rate among criminals. Europol's report echoed this sentiment, saying that although there isn't an "official" currency for illegal activity, bitcoin appears to be filling that role.

Regulations

In Europe, regulators have been working together with the cryptocurrency community to find ways to impose protective laws without hampering the currency's growth. However, such regulations, Europol said, may not be enough to prevent bitcoin's seedy underbelly from thriving. Regulating transactions made by known users will prevent some scams and money laundering efforts, but it will be difficult to impose such rules on transactions where the users are anonymous.