Vancouver authorities want to ban Bitcoin ATMs as “ideal money laundering tools”

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart supported the local police, who called the cryptocurrency exchange terminals “the perfect money laundering tool,” suggesting that their installation and operation in this third largest city in Canada be completely banned.

However, such a step, as emphasized by a well-known lawyer and supporter of Bitcoin, Christine Duime, will require an appropriate legislative decision at the national level, including from the Canadian Tax Agency (CRA).

Vancouver considering a ban on Bitcoin ATMs. Police say are ideal for money laundering. Industry says you're safe. ATMs were quite diligent to curb. CRA scams last year. One owner even paid back. https://t.co/zYvc1r0umF

– Christine Duhaime (@cduhaime) June 6, 2019

Christine Duime's commentary also cites the local edition of The Star.

“Unfortunately, in Vancouver, digital currencies are actually used to carry out illegal activities. On the other hand, they are also used by legitimate businesses that are trying to work within the framework of the existing regulation, ”she said.

Currently, according to CoinATMRadar , 76 cryptocurrency terminals are installed in Vancouver. Over the past year, their operators have faced problems with the authorities twice, with the last time, in February 2019, police sergeant Alvin Shum of Vancouver prepared a report in which he also touched on the ideological component of blockchain technologies.

“Given the lack of a central structure, there is no controlling organization that would monitor or regulate financial transactions in order to ensure legal transfer of funds. This creates an excellent opportunity to remain anonymous to the representatives of the underworld, who continue to deceive unsuspecting citizens, launder money and commit anonymous transactions for large sums, ” he wrote then.

In his report, Alvin Shum also suggested that if an organized criminal group acquires Bitcoin-ATM, this device will be a very effective means for money laundering for her. The cost of the machine itself would have amounted to several thousand dollars, which is not a big problem for serious players, however, with the purchase of it they could convert cash into cryptocurrency as many times as they need.

In conclusion, he called for the adoption of relevant legislation at the national level, and this is exactly what Christine Duay says.

At the same time, many cryptocurrency ATMs in Canada have limits on the size of daily transactions or on transactions that can be conducted without mandatory verification. These limits, however, may vary by operator. For example, some machines require confirmation of the phone number and verification via SMS for transactions in excess of $ 1000. In other cases, this amount may be $ 3,000, there are also cars that say that they have no limits at all.

The publication also notes that over the past few years, Bitcoin-ATMs have been involved in scam schemes. For example, last year, the Toronto and Vancouver police warned the public about fraudsters who were able to convince a number of people that they had debts to the Tax Agency of Canada, and convinced them to make cryptocurrency transactions to their addresses.

Be that as it may, the decision to regulate the functioning of bitcoin terminals in Vancouver is expected to be made on the basis of an ongoing study. The city authorities should present its results by the end of this year.

Note that it was in Vancouver in 2013 that the world's first Bitcoin-ATM was installed.

According to the January data, over the past three years, the number of established cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide has increased by 700% .

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