—— Legal Investment vs Illegal Money Laundering, the boundary you must know!
In recent years, virtual currencies have been exploited by some criminals for money laundering, fraud, and illegal fundraising due to their anonymity and cross-border liquidity. As an ordinary investor, how can you avoid inadvertently getting involved in crime? How can you protect yourself? This note will help you understand the key risk points!
🔍 What is Money Laundering?
Money laundering refers to the process of making illegal proceeds (such as funds from drug trafficking, fraud, embezzlement, etc.) appear as 'legitimate income' through a series of operations.
🚨 How is virtual currency used for money laundering?
Mixing services (e.g., Tornado Cash)
Confusing transaction paths through smart contracts, making it difficult to trace the flow of funds.
⚠️ Risk: Using such tools may be deemed as assisting in money laundering!
OTC Off-exchange trading (buying coins with dirty money)
Criminals purchase USDT/BTC in the OTC market with illicit funds and then cash out through exchanges.
⚠️ Risk: If the coins you sold are classified as 'dirty money', your bank card may be frozen!
Cross-platform multiple transfers
Transferring back and forth through different exchanges and wallets to cut off fund chain tracking.
Fake transactions (volume washing, wash trading)
Creating false transaction records through self-buying and selling to cover up the source of funds.
⚖️ How serious are the legal consequences?
📌 Penalties for money laundering under Chinese law
(Criminal Law) Article 191 (Money Laundering): Up to 10 years of imprisonment + fines (5%-20% of the laundered amount)
(Anti-Money Laundering Law): Financial institutions, payment institutions, and exchanges must cooperate with investigations, or face severe penalties.
🌍 International Cases
(Binance): In 2023, paid $4.3 billion in settlement for violating U.S. anti-money laundering regulations.
Tornado Cash Developer: Arrested in the U.S., accused of assisting in money laundering.
💡 Summary
Virtual currencies themselves are not criminal tools, but their characteristics can easily be abused. As an ordinary investor:
Only use regulated exchanges and complete KYC verification.
Do not engage with unknown funds to avoid high-risk OTC transactions.
Do not participate in any 'proxy operations' to protect yourself from legal risks.
📢 Remember: Once involved in money laundering, not only will funds be frozen, but you may also face criminal liability!$BTC $ETH #美国加征关税 #币安Alpha上新