US Treasury gives DeFi warning, saying it poses 'the most significant current illicit finance risk'

Per Coin Desk

The US Treasury has released its "2023 DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment" and gave its two cents regarding DeFi. The post discussed the risks that could be associated with decentralized finance.

Brian Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, gave a statement regarding the risks that they associated with the use of DeFi. Nelson also described the importance of risk assessment.

Nelson: "Our assessment finds that illicit actors, including criminals, scammers, and North Korean cyber actors are using DeFi services in the process of laundering illicit funds."

Nelson then described how it was important to consider the risks and dangers of using decentralized finance and its benefits. The report also shared how the risks could be amplified if the entities can't register with the appropriate regulator and more.

The report said criminals are likely to exploit services and circumvent US and UN sanctions should they not comply with different obligations. The report also warned against the lack of AML/CFT controls.

"The primary vulnerability that illicit actors exploit stems from non-compliance by DeFi services with AML/CFT and sanctions obligations."

With the collapse of multiple crypto firms after the downfall of Terra Luna, FTX, and other large names in crypto, esteemed critics have maintained their opinion on crypto, with people like Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway doubling down, saying it was "massively stupid."

Munger: "Crypto is just ridiculous that anybody would buy this stuff... it's massively stupid."

Berkshire Hathaway's Munger said that the people who oppose his positions regarding crypto were "idiots." He also previously called for a ban on crypto.

In November, amid the collapse of FTX, crypto users started to offload their G-Wagons and other luxury cards in record numbers. The report shared how it could affect the resale value of the market.

See flow at unusualwhales.com/flow.

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Coin Desk

US Department of the Treasury

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