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 <p class="is-style-lead">International crime-fighting agency Europol has praised blockchain’s security, but also highlighted high <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="criminal" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/criminal.html">criminal</a> <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="activity" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/activity.html">activity</a> in decentralized finance.</p> 
 <p>Europol, the EU law enforcement organization, has published its first European Financial and Economic Crime<br>Threat Assessment. It describes an in-depth assessment of the threats posed by cyber<a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="criminal" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/criminal.html">criminal</a>s at the European level.</p> 
 <p>Besides financial crimes in traditional finance, Europol also addressed in the document the illicit use of cryptocurrencies. Although the agency praised blockchain for its independence and security, Europol criticized decentralized finance (DeFi). The agency believes the lack of crypto regulation “leaves<br>openings for economic crime since <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="criminal" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/criminal.html">criminal</a>s hold illicit assets on DeFi platforms.”</p> 
 <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> 
  <p>“The use of cryptocurrencies for <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="criminal" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/criminal.html">criminal</a> schemes is also increasing in line with their overall<br>adoption rate.”</p> <cite>Europol</cite> 
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 <p>However, Europol pointed out that the illicit use of crypto still represents “less than one percent of the overall transaction volume.” In addition to DeFi, the agency addressed wide-scale scams involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Europol says NFTs pose a “significant risk of money laundering due to their instant trading feature across borders.”</p> 
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  <img decoding="async" width="1454" height="543" src="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2023/09/12/b8f29593b6ead6e45c4c588b012ae2f0.webp" alt="Europol slams DeFi over high criminal activity - 1" class="wp-image-14193955"> 
  <figcaption class="wp-element-caption">
    DeFi TVL. Source: DeFiLlama 
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 </figure> 
 <p>Although DeFi has become hot for hackers and scammers, on-chain data indicates a steady decline in the total value locked among all DeFi protocols. According to DeFiLlama data, DeFi’s TVL is set at $37.3 billion as of press time, which is near levels last seen in February 2021.</p> 
 <p>In July, the U.S. Senate&nbsp;proposed&nbsp;a strict bill for DeFi regulation that the crypto community criticized. Shortly after the proposal, the Blockchain Association&nbsp;slammed&nbsp;the new bill, calling it incompatible with the industry as it pressures the DeFi protocols to collect user data.</p> 
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  </svg> <span class="cn-block-related-link__prefix"> Read more: </span> Europol, US and Germany make €46m ChipMixer bust 
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<p>Source: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://thebittimes.com/europol-slams-defi-over-high-criminal-activity-tbt62458.html">https://thebittimes.com/europol-slams-defi-over-high-criminal-activity-tbt62458.html</a></p>

Europol slams DeFi over high criminal activity

TheBitTimes

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