How is money laundered through cryptocurrency? What are the key points of the process?

Cryptocurrencies have become a popular financial instrument due to their transparency, speed, and independence from banks.

However, their decentralized nature often becomes a reason for money laundering through cryptocurrencies.

Today, there are two most popular options for laundering illegally obtained funds: converting cash into cryptocurrency and legalizing the obtained digital money.

In this article, we'll explore what money laundering is, how cash is converted into cryptocurrency, how cryptocurrency is withdrawn into bank accounts, and why filing taxes is important.

What is money laundering?

Money laundering is the process of converting illegal proceeds into legitimate funds.

It includes three stages:

• Placement is the introduction of funds into the financial system, for example, through the purchase of cryptocurrency.
• Layering is the creation of a chain of transactions to hide the origin of money.
• Integration is the use of "cleaned" funds for legitimate transactions.

The main goal of full legalization is to ensure that the funds do not raise doubts and that taxes are paid on them.

But in practice, I also use partial legalization, in which cryptocurrencies are transferred to bank accounts in loyal countries, without paying any taxes.

Exchange cash through cryptocurrency

This process is the most complex, labor-intensive, and expensive, primarily because laundering large sums of money without blatant criminality is quite difficult. However, if we're talking about a few tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, things are simpler.

The main principle of converting illegal cash into cryptocurrency is small amounts, ideally up to $1,000 at a time, or with moderate risk up to $10,000.

BestChange.com exchange rating , where you can choose the currency in which you have cash and the cryptocurrency you want to exchange it for:

Next, select the exchange office and city where you'd like to make the exchange, and proceed to the company's website. Then, follow the instructions on the website to complete the actual exchange of cash for cryptocurrency.

Legalization of cryptocurrency

The funds raised through cryptocurrency exchange can then be withdrawn to your bank account through BestChange.ru, or you can use the services of cryptocurrency exchanges, while adhering to the rule of keeping the amounts small.

But for the money to be fully legalized, it will need to be declared on a tax return and income tax paid. Sometimes, to reduce taxes, a business owner may set up a business to provide services and pay a fixed tax.

Alternatively, you can pay for goods and services with cryptocurrency, in which case you won't have to pay anything, or you can buy real estate and register it on the balance sheet of an offshore company, then transfer it to your name and sell it.

Large sums of money are laundered through offshore companies and cryptocurrencies, but implementing such schemes requires a specialist in this field.

It is advisable to conduct all transactions in countries that are friendly to cryptocurrencies and that do not require crypto wallet disclosure.  

There are quite a number of options for money laundering through cryptocurrency, and the choice depends on the amount involved.

However, most schemes are considered illegal in any case, and if the transactions attract the attention of the competent authorities, you may lose your money.