News > Latin American crime cartels turn to cryptocurrencies for money laundering

Latin American crime cartels turn to cryptocurrencies for money laundering

The cryptocurrency is emerging as a new front in Latin America's struggle against gangs battling for control of vast criminal markets for sex, drugs, guns and people. The sums involved in the few cases uncovered are typically thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

Yet larger sums have begun to crop up across the region over the last three years, with a team of international police breaking up three Colombian drug gangs laundering millions of dollars via cryptocurrencies.