Reported by Mathew Di Salvo

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has warned of criminals using decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols but admitted that money launderers and terrorists typically prefer fiat currencies over crypto. 

In its “Illicit Finance Risk Assessment of Decentralized Finance” report released today, the U.S. body said that ransomware crooks, thieves, scammers and other criminals are “using DeFi services in the process of transferring and laundering their illicit proceeds.”

It added that many DeFi apps fail to comply with America’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) rules and were therefore being exploited by crooks. 

Though the report did note that “money laundering, proliferation financing, and terrorist financing most commonly occur using fiat currency or other traditional assets as opposed to virtual assets.”

Read full report: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-treasury-warns-defi-being-200515406.html and https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1391