Regulate cryptocurrency to check high-profile crimes, ICPC tells NASS

The anti-graft agency lamented that kidnapers and bandits now used the medium to perpetrate high profile crimes as money laundering and payment of ransom for kidnappers

The Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, stated this during the opening ceremony of a two-day capacity building retreat with National Assembly and ICPC Board/committee directors with the theme, ‘Corruption, IFFS and financing for national development’, which held on Tuesday at Watbridge Hotels and Suites Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.

He said the gaps in the law and absence of regulatory framework had emboldened the perpetrators of these crime to swindle unsuspecting members of the public as well as to engage in illicit financial flow.

He said, “There is need for regulatory intervention in cryptocurrency trading. Some people have used digital currency and assets to commit huge corruption, money laundry and terrorism financing.

“Corruption in digital assets are not easily traceable for instance if somebody steals billions of Naira and converts it quickly into cryptocurrency, it’s almost impossible to trace it.

“This is not the kind of account you can easily freeze. Before you freeze an account, you have to know the account name, the BVN etc. But in cryptocurrency, you have only the wallet and the identity of the person is not known to anyone. Those who helped to convert the currency do not have registered organisation. These are the things that facilitate money laundry and terrorism.

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