Cryptocurrencies play a dangerous role in human trafficking and contribute to the rise of crimes related to money laundering. This was stated by Vatican spokesman Janusz Urbanczyk.
The Vatican criticised the lack of transparency and oversight in the cryptocurrency market.
“Some cryptocurrency platforms and providers of virtual assets that did not require identification from their clients — senders and recipients of transfers — increased the likelihood of money laundering and related crimes,” Urbanczyk noted.
According to him, many illegal migrants traveling along the Balkan route became victims of online human traffickers.
“Social networks and the so-called dark net are widely used to facilitate the recruitment and transport of migrants,” the Vatican spokesperson added.
The Holy See urged states to foster the development and implementation of mechanisms to identify users of virtual assets to increase market transparency and combat financing of illicit activity.
According to Chainalysis, the leaders by the number of illegal crypto transactions in the period from July 2020 to June 2021 were Western and Eastern Europe.
Earlier in September, the District Court of Arizona softened the charges in the Backpage case involving human trafficking and money laundering in Bitcoin.
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