According to the Daily Planet, the U.S. Treasury Department released the 2024 National Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment Report, highlighting illegal financial threats, vulnerabilities, and risks in the United States. The report stated that criminals, scammers, and illegal actors are increasingly turning to virtual assets. The report details how bad actors launder money through the continued use of cash and the increasing use of cryptocurrencies for fraud, drug trafficking, human smuggling, and corruption. The U.S. Treasury Department plans to release a strategic plan in the coming weeks to provide recommendations for addressing these issues.
The report states that DeFi services belonging to financial institutions must comply with anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). However, many existing DeFi services fail to comply with AML/CFT obligations, which is a loophole exploited by illegal actors. Criminals are seeking to exploit new financial services, including DeFi and online games.
The U.S. Treasury Department also expressed concern about the increased use of stablecoins in the report: "The 2022 National Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment (NTFRA) report shows that the most common form of virtual asset donations for terrorist organizations is Bitcoin, and now terrorist organizations that raise virtual asset donations are increasingly turning to stablecoins."