Author of the news: Crypto Emergency
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published a report that questions the familiar narratives about the main sources of money laundering. From 2020 to 2024, American banks processed a staggering $312 billion related to Chinese money laundering networks.
Chinese schemes and Mexican cartels
An analysis of more than 137,000 reports under the Bank Secrecy Act found that, on average, $62 billion annually flowed through the American banking system from Chinese money launderers. These funds were used to finance Mexican drug cartels needing to legitimize dollar proceeds from drugs.
"These networks launder income for Mexican drug cartels and participate in other significant underground money transfer schemes in the U.S. and around the world," said FinCEN director Andrea Gacki.
But drugs are only part of the picture. The "portfolio" of Chinese groups also includes human trafficking, smuggling, healthcare fraud, and elder fraud. A separate area is money laundering through real estate, where $53.7 billion in suspicious transactions have been identified.
Senator Warren and the one-sided war on cryptocurrencies
Against the backdrop of these figures, the focus of politicians on cryptocurrencies looks particularly strange. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, stated:
"Criminals are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies for money laundering," and called for stricter regulation.
However, the data suggests otherwise. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, over $2 trillion is laundered globally each year. And according to Chainalysis, the total volume of illegal cryptocurrency transactions over the past five years is $189 billion.
Double standards and skewed priorities
It turns out to be a paradox: traditional banks pass through tens of billions of dirty dollars each year, but public attention and political pressure are directed at cryptocurrencies, which account for less than 1% of all illegal financial transactions.
It's time to ask the uncomfortable question: why are the real scales of bank involvement in money laundering ignored, while cryptocurrencies are becoming the scapegoat?
