2018-7-15 22:10 |
The indictment includes charges of money laundering through the use of Bitcoin, the leading virtual currency, to mask the illegal activities of officers in the GRU, a Russian military intelligence agency.
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Though cryptocurrencies have been tied to illicit activity in the past, the prominent mention of Bitcoin throughout the indictment could increase scrutiny of the new financial sector, which is already viewed skeptically by many regulators.
“Bitcoin faces the same challenges of perception that the early internet did,” said Jerry Brito, executive director of the virtual currency policy and advocacy nonprofit Coin Center.
They used a “web of transactions structured to capitalize on the perceived anonymity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin,” it said.
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