Sweden isn’t pulling any punches in the fight against crypto crime.
According to the latest crypto news, the Swedish Police Authority, in partnership with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has officially classified unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges as “professional money launderers” (PMLs).
This comes after an in-depth analysis of illegal providers found that these platforms have deep ties to organized crime.
According to the FIU, PMLs allow individuals and criminal networks to systematically launder funds. They’ve identified four main profiles of these illicit crypto exchanges: the node exchange provider, the hawala exchange provider, the asset exchange provider, and the platform exchange provider—each playing a different role in the laundering chain.
In a bid to clamp down on these illegal activities, the FIU called for an increased law enforcement presence on crypto trading platforms, labeling illicit cryptocurrency providers as a growing threat to Sweden’s financial integrity.
Licensed and legitimate crypto platforms, however, were seen as vital partners in the fight against money laundering.
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The authorities urged these platforms to monitor for suspicious transactions, stop illicit trades, and even offboard problematic clients.
But Sweden’s fight against crypto crime doesn’t stop at exchanges. The nation’s Bitcoin miners are also under scrutiny.
A recent investigation by the Swedish Tax Agency uncovered significant discrepancies in the tax filings of 18 out of 21 crypto-mining firms between 2020 and 2023. These companies, accused of filing “misleading or incomplete” tax data, face a massive $90 million tax bill for dodging value-added tax (VAT).
Two mining firms successfully appealed, leading to adjusted tax demands, but for many others, this could be just the beginning of Sweden’s war on illegal cryptocurrency activities.
