There was a significant hit against a $6.2 million money laundering plan by Binance, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, and the Taipei District Prosecutors Office working together.
An official statement said that the operation, which was worth about NT$200 million to the authorities, made it easier for illegal money to be laundered through cryptocurrency. In order to avoid being caught by the police, criminals used a variety of methods, such as making fake proofs of funds transfers, fake identification information, and changed records of customer conversations.
Binance, Taiwan Crack Down
Lo Wei-yuan, a lawyer at the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, has charged nine people with breaking the Money Laundering Control Act, aggravated fraud, and rules meant to stop organized crime.
With help from Binance’s Financial Crimes Compliance (FCC) staff, police were able to track down transactions that seemed fishy. The FCC team was created in 2020 and is made up of experts from many fields, such as technology, banking, law enforcement, and intelligence. Its job is to fight financial crimes that involve digital assets.
Binance is working with Taiwanese officials as part of its larger efforts to get involved in the region. The exchange tried to get registered with Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and the Money Laundering Control Act last year. Local regulators have valued Binance’s help in fighting cases of virtual asset fraud because they know it will help them. Also, earlier this year, Binance held a workshop on how to police laws against virtual assets for officials from the Keelung District Prosecutors Office in Taiwan.
At the same time, Taiwan is getting ready to regulate cryptocurrencies by the end of 2024. Huang Tianzhu, head of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), is worried that cryptocurrencies could be used to help with illegal activities. He wants to tighten oversight of crypto exchanges and punish those who don’t follow the rules. At the moment, 10 businesses in Taiwan offer services for trading virtual currencies. To reduce risks, officials warn people not to do business with businesses that don’t follow the rules.
