Former US Federal Prosecutor at Money20/20: 'A Lot More' Crimes Committed With Fiat Than Crypto

Former U.S. Federal Prosecutor Mary Beth Buchanan spoke at a panel during the Money20/20 Europe conference in Amsterdam Monday, June 4, suggesting that we need to "Get rid of the negative connotations" surrounding the emerging crypto industry.

"I served 21 years at the [US] Justice Department and it's not fair to say there is a greater amount of crime with cryptocurrencies. In fact I would strongly disagree with that , cryptocurrencies can be traced, unlike fiat currencies [cash]."

As CT's correspondent noted, the notion that transactions involving crypto are in fact more traceable than fiat currencies can seem counterintuitive, given that achieving anonymity was one of the motivating impulses behind the invention of cryptocurrencies.

Buchanan stressed that there are now many "Commercially available" tools that law enforcement can leverage to trace how currency has moved on a blockchain.

Buchanan admitted that law enforcement "Has a lot of catching up to do," likening the challenge to the early days of the internet.

Buchanan is currently serving as a General Counsel to major crypto exchange Kraken, and says she has been "Very involved" in the crypto industry for the past four to five years.

She advocated cryptocurrencies as a "Wonderful tool" that provides a "Cost-effective" means for the transfer of value globally.

When asked about the future of crypto adoption, Buchanan considered that we're "Already" seeing it "Around the world," suggesting its increasing use by unbanked populations.

As a recent Cointelegraph report showed, cryptocurrencies are indisputably exploited for illicit ends, with an early 2018 paper estimating that "Approximately one-quarter of all users... and close to one-half of Bitcoin transactions...are associated with illegal activity."

Whereas global illicit Bitcoin activity annually is estimated at a value of around $72 bln, the same paper cites figures for 2010 that reveal that $100 bln in fiat was spent on drugs in the US alone.