Spanish Bitcoin ATM Owners Are Not Following EU’s AML Regulations

Spanish Bitcoin ATM owners reportedly are not obliged by the strict AML regulations which leave the door open for massive money laundering schemes. In the altcoin news today we read more about the Spanish Guardia Civil report on the regulation of the sector.

The reports that reached our website show that the special police in Spain took down a criminal organization that used the Bitcoin ATMs to launder money on behalf of narco-traffickers. The Crime-as-a-Service money laundering scheme managed to make up to $9 million before it was taken down. The gang hired two crypto ATMs and then installed them in Madrid. The machines were promoted as devices that anyone can use in order to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

However, the gang used false identities for the registering process in order to load the devices with crypto and then they withdraw money from different bank accounts and send It to Bitcoin exchanges. This scheme provided them with the cover they needed to make huge transactions without raising suspicion. Once they obtained the cryptocurrencies, they then sent them to drug traffickers in Colombia. The two bitcoin ATMs were seized as well as four cold and 20 hot wallets.

The Spanish bitcoin ATM owners took advantage of the poor regulation of the crypto sector in the country. The use of ATMs to launder money is not restricted to Spain only. Other countries have the same issue as well including the UK and Canada.  The policymakers around the world are raising the caution against the risk that the cryptocurrencies carry with regards to money laundering.

According to CipherTrace, the crypto analytics company as we previously mentioned in the latest cryptocurrency news, criminals managed to launder around 380,000 bitcoins between the birth of Bitcoin and 2018. Currently, Bitcoin is worth about $4.4 billion. Most of the Bitcoin was laundered through unregistered crypto exchanges and they usually end up in countries with weak regulations and security protocols. This is one of the reasons why the policymakers are trying to figure out a new regulatory framework that will apply throughout the sector without choking it and making the investors run away.