Technology has changed money-laundering
This will confound government enforcers for years to come
ON JUNE 2nd Bill Guan, the chief financial officer of the Epoch Times, a right-wing newspaper, was arrested. Prosecutors in New York charged him with laundering $67m, allegedly buying pre-paid debit cards using cryptocurrency. (Mr Guan has pleaded not guilty.) Chainalysis, a blockchain-analysis firm, estimates that $22.2bn in illicit funds were laundered globally using cryptocurrencies in 2023. Despite Western sanctions, Iran, North Korea and Hamas, a terrorist group, all launder funds with crypto.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “When screens clean the green”
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