[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":326},["ShallowReactive",2],{"news-equipping-malawis-investigative-journalists-to-report-on-corruption-and-anti-corruption-efforts-1558":3,"news-equipping-malawis-investigative-journalists-to-report-on-corruption-and-anti-corruption-efforts-1558-similar":82,"i-heroicons:arrow-left-20-solid":321},[4],{"id":5,"status":6,"date_created":7,"date_updated":8,"title":9,"type":10,"body":11,"date":12,"topic":13,"slug":15,"activity":16,"nid":18,"topics":19,"activities":21,"programme":22,"area":22,"websites":23,"language":22,"image":25,"translation_of":22,"countries":37,"tags":61,"authors":78,"images":79,"translations":80,"content":81},10467,"published","2024-08-13T22:01:58.000Z","2026-05-29T22:22:31.000Z","Equipping Malawi’s investigative journalists to report on corruption and anti-corruption efforts","News","Journalist Bertram Hill of the BBC Africa Eye Investigative Team joined media consultant Ladan Cher in March 2020 to lead an intensive open-source intelligence workshop for 13 of Malawi’s leading investigative journalists.\n\nDuring the four-day workshop, the participants explored the many possibilities of open-source intelligence gathering, including:\n\n*   Archiving and advanced search techniques\n*   Online monitoring\n*   Digital security\n*   Geolocation and mapping resources\n*   Advanced people search\n\nThe workshop was part of the Basel Institute’s Continuing Journalism Education (CJE) initiative in Malawi. Supported by the Tackling Serious and Organised Corruption programme of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the CJE aims to help Malawi’s media practitioners develop and publish stories on corruption and anti-corruption activities.\n\nThe goals: to amplify public messages on corruption, help the media to present a clear and candid account of corrupt activities, and drive positive change.\n\nThe initiative, led by two journalist mentors, targets a small cadre of experienced investigative journalists in Malawi, as well as media houses and journalist support organisations.\n\nHighlights in the past year include conducting 10 story labs in Lilongwe and Blantyre, where the cohort of journalists pitch and develop their stories; and three topical workshops including the above BBC-led workshop, a Fact-Checking Workshop led by Africa Check and a Story Pitch and Build Workshop led by the J-School at Wits University in Johannesburg.\n\nA journalist was set to undertake a three-month fellowship with the _Mail and Guardian_ in South Africa, although this has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nForty stories have been published by CJE journalists over the past year, including the stories that broke the judicial bribery scandal, on a ministry involved in a land-swap scandal, and the story of police uniforms and boots being sold on the open market.\n\nThe CJE programme has seen interest and support from media houses, newsrooms and journalist support organisations all over the world, including the [Media Institute of Southern Africa](https:\u002F\u002Fmisa.org\u002F) in Lilongwe, the Raphael Tenthani Centre for Media Excellence at the [Polytechnic College of the University of Malawi](http:\u002F\u002Fwww.poly.ac.mw\u002F) in Blantyre, the [AmaBhungane](https:\u002F\u002Famabhungane.org\u002F) Centre for Investigative Journalism, the _Mail & Guardian_ of South Africa, [Wits Journalism](http:\u002F\u002Fwits.journalism.co.za\u002F) of Witwatersrand University, The _Telegraph_ in the UK, the _Washington Post_, and Malawian newspapers The _Times, Nyasa Times_ and The _Nation_.","2020-04-08",[14],"Asset Recovery","equipping-malawis-investigative-journalists-to-report-on-corruption-and-anti-corruption-efforts-1558",[17],"Training",1558,[20],"Asset Recovery and Enforcement",[17],null,[24],"Main page",{"id":26,"storage":27,"filename_disk":28,"filename_download":29,"title":9,"type":30,"created_on":31,"modified_on":32,"charset":22,"filesize":33,"width":34,"height":35,"duration":22,"embed":22,"description":22,"location":22,"tags":22,"metadata":36,"focal_point_x":22,"focal_point_y":22,"tus_id":22,"tus_data":22,"uploaded_on":32},"5ee0a5d0-c0e7-4b89-90a4-3f28eaca41b1","local","5ee0a5d0-c0e7-4b89-90a4-3f28eaca41b1.webp","MalawiCJE2.webp","image\u002Fwebp","2025-05-12T21:20:47.000Z","2026-05-06T07:35:24.000Z",218226,1600,1200,{},[38],{"id":39,"news_id":40,"countries_id":55},7422,{"id":5,"status":6,"user_created":41,"date_created":7,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":8,"title":9,"type":10,"body":11,"image":26,"date":12,"topic":43,"slug":15,"activity":44,"nid":18,"topics":45,"activities":46,"programme":22,"area":22,"websites":47,"translation_of":22,"language":22,"countries":48,"tags":49,"authors":51,"images":52,"translations":53,"content":54},"03bebfd8-0b40-4a2a-820d-b9d9c13b9de6","3d9ff205-1640-4f34-b5b6-86977f51bbd6",[14],[17],[20],[17],[24],[39],[50],5906,[],[],[],[],{"id":56,"name":57,"code":58,"latitude":59,"longitude":60},153,"Malawi","MW",-13.25431,34.30152,[62],{"id":50,"news_id":63,"tags_id":75},{"id":5,"status":6,"user_created":41,"date_created":7,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":8,"title":9,"type":10,"body":11,"image":26,"date":12,"topic":64,"slug":15,"activity":65,"nid":18,"topics":66,"activities":67,"programme":22,"area":22,"websites":68,"translation_of":22,"language":22,"countries":69,"tags":70,"authors":71,"images":72,"translations":73,"content":74},[14],[17],[20],[17],[24],[39],[50],[],[],[],[],{"id":76,"name":77},1375,"Civil society",[],[],[],[],[83,107,132,161,183,212,234,257,278,298],{"id":84,"body":85,"status":6,"type":10,"date":86,"slug":87,"title":88,"image":89,"countries":90,"topic":92,"activity":93,"tags":95,"nid":96,"topics":97,"activities":98,"authors":99,"images":100,"websites":22,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":102,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":103,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":104,"content":105,"link":106},10605,"> These administrative steps are where asset recovery really happens… when dirty assets are transformed into resources that support law enforcement and serve the public good.\n\nWith these words, [Oscar Solórzano](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fabout\u002Fpeople\u002Foscar-solorzano), Head of Latin America at the Basel Institute on Governance, captured the often unseen but transformative impact of asset recovery. \n\nHis remark follows a high-level meeting in Peru marking the final phase of a pioneering international agreement.\n\nOn 26 March 2026, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Peru hosted the Meeting of the States Parties to the [Tripartite Agreement between Peru, Switzerland and Luxembourg](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fit-takes-three-tango-switzerland-luxembourg-and-peru-sign-agreement-return-usd-26-million) on the transfer of confiscated assets. \n\nOpened by Minister Luis Enrique Jiménez Borra, the meeting brought together key Peruvian institutions alongside representatives of the Swiss authorities to review progress, assess institutional impact and discuss the next steps towards closure.\n\n### From frozen assets to public benefit\n\nThrough this cooperation, assets derived from corruption cases and previously frozen abroad have been returned to Peru and reinvested in strengthening the justice system. \n\nProjects funded under the agreement have enhanced the capacity to investigate and prosecute corruption and organised crime, improved coordination between institutions and strengthened mechanisms for asset recovery and asset management.\n\nThe National Program for Seized Assets ([PRONABI](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gob.pe\u002Fpronabi)) has overseen the transparent and accountable administration of these funds, ensuring they directly support institutions at the forefront of combating corruption.\n\nHighlighting the broader significance of the initiative, Minister Jiménez Borra stated:\n\n> International cooperation can turn assets derived from corruption into concrete tools for strengthening justice and public integrity. The Tripartite Agreement shows how recovered assets can be reinvested to benefit citizens and strengthen the rule of law.\n\n### Strong international partnership and Swiss engagement\n\nPeru’s tripartite collaboration with Switzerland and Luxembourg has provided a strong framework for cooperation. It demonstrates how countries can work together to return illicit assets in a transparent and impactful way. \n\nThe Basel Institute on Governance, through its [International Centre for Asset Recovery](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fasset-recovery) (ICAR), has played a central role in supporting implementation by providing technical advice and accompanying institutions throughout the process. \n\nPaul Garnier, Ambassador of Switzerland to Peru, noted: \n\n> This meeting provides an important opportunity to review the current status of the project and the progress achieved so far. Switzerland also values the continued technical support provided by the Basel Institute on Governance throughout the implementation of this initiative. \n\nDuring the technical session, Oscar Solórzano and [Límberg Chero](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fabout\u002Fpeople\u002Flimberg-chero), a senior member of the Basel Institute’s [Public Finance Management programme in Peru](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublic-finance-peru), shared reflections on the implementation, impact and sustainability of the projects.\n\nCelso Alfredo Saavedra Sobrados, Executive Coordinator of PRONABI, emphasise that:\n\n> PRONABI has worked to ensure that the restituted funds are administered with transparency, efficiency and accountability, so that they directly contribute to strengthening the institutions responsible for combating corruption.\n\nHe also highlighted the close and timely technical support provided by the Basel Institute on Governance during the implementation of the project.\n\n### Setting a regional example for asset recovery\n\nThe experience demonstrates how sustained international cooperation, combined with targeted technical support, can ensure that recovered assets deliver tangible benefits for citizens and reinforce the rule of law.\n\nIt also offers a compelling example for other jurisdictions, showing that asset return can be both practical and impactful when underpinned by trust, transparency and shared objectives. \n\nThe hope is that this model will inspire further mutually beneficial efforts to return stolen assets and put them to work for the public good.","2026-04-02","where-asset-recovery-really-happens-peru-advances-landmark-restitution-initiative-2949","Where asset recovery really happens: Peru advances landmark restitution initiative","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Facf1f9c4-3c0f-46da-a4c6-cb846ceacb26?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[91],7806,[14],[94],"International cooperation",[],2949,[20],[94],[],[],"English",[],"2026-04-15T22:45:17.000Z","2026-05-29T22:22:39.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fwhere-asset-recovery-really-happens-peru-advances-landmark-restitution-initiative-2949",{"id":108,"body":109,"status":6,"type":110,"date":111,"slug":112,"title":113,"image":114,"countries":115,"topic":116,"activity":118,"tags":120,"nid":121,"topics":122,"activities":123,"authors":124,"images":126,"websites":22,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":127,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":128,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":129,"content":130,"link":131},10608,"_Criminal assets can cross borders in hours, while international asset recovery often struggles to keep pace. The INTERPOL Silver Notice is designed to close this gap by enabling earlier identification and tracing of criminal assets across jurisdictions. Can this new instrument fundamentally change how law enforcement responds to the rapid flight of illicit wealth?_\n\nCriminal funds can be moved across jurisdictions, layered through shell companies or converted into digital assets in a matter of hours. By contrast, international legal cooperation frequently moves at a far slower pace. The mismatch between the speed of asset flight and the pace of enforcement is one of the central reasons why several international bodies estimate that a very high proportion of [criminal assets](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.interpol.int\u002Fen\u002FNews-and-Events\u002FNews\u002F2025\u002FINTERPOL-publishes-first-Silver-Notice-targeting-criminal-assets#:~:text=Valdecy%20Urquiza%2C%20INTERPOL%20Secretary%20General,of%20criminal%20assets%20remain%20unrecovered.) ultimately remain unrecovered.\n\nINTERPOL’s Silver Notices seek to narrow this gap. They provide law enforcement with an early, structured mechanism to identify and trace assets across borders, strengthening one of the weakest stages of asset recovery: the initial [identification of criminal assets](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Finterpols-silver-notice-paving-way-improved-asset-recovery). For practitioners dealing with fraud, corruption, money laundering and organised crime, Silver Notices reflect a shift toward treating asset recovery as an enforcement priority rather than merely a consequence of criminal conviction.\n\n### The state of play\n\nINTERPOL launched the Silver Notice as a pilot initiative in January 2025, involving 52 jurisdictions across all regions. [As of November 2025, 133 Silver Notices and 35 Diffusions had been published](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.interpol.int\u002FNews-and-Events\u002FNews\u002F2025\u002FTogether-Against-Crime-INTERPOL-General-Assembly-approves-blueprint-for-future) at the request of 39 countries, linked to suspected financial harm exceeding EUR 30 billion, according to INTERPOL.\n\nSwitzerland does not currently participate in the pilot and therefore does not issue Silver Notices. However, Swiss authorities may still receive Silver Notices and share information through existing police cooperation channels.\n\nIn November 2025, during the 93rd INTERPOL General Assembly in Marrakech, delegates approved the extension of the Silver Notice pilot, allowing additional jurisdictions to participate. For practitioners, this expansion matters: broader participation directly increases the likelihood that assets can be identified and preserved before they are moved beyond the reach of enforcement authorities.\n\n### What is the Silver Notice?\n\nINTERPOL Notices enable countries to share critical criminal intelligence and request operational assistance across borders. A Silver Notice is a non-coercive intelligence tool designed to support the identification and tracing of assets linked to serious criminal offences. It does not, by itself, authorise the freezing, seizure or confiscation of assets. Any such measures must be taken in accordance with national law and applicable judicial procedures.\n\nIn practice, Silver Notices may be used to:\n\n*   flag bank accounts, real estate, corporate holdings and digital assets;\n*   identify beneficial owners or persons exercising control over assets;\n*   enable secure and structured intelligence sharing between participating jurisdictions.\n\n### From identification to legal action\n\nOne of the most persistent challenges in cross-border asset recovery lies in the slow and often complex operation of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) mechanisms used to gather evidence or freeze assets. Evidentiary thresholds and procedural requirements vary widely across jurisdictions, and delays in cooperation can allow assets to be dissipated.\n\nWhen a Silver Notice leads to the identification of assets, the jurisdiction in which they are located informs the requesting country and INTERPOL, outlines domestic legal options, and acts within its legal framework. Early bilateral engagement allows investigators and prosecutors to align MLA requests with domestic standards, shortening the transition from intelligence to evidence and from tracing to freezing, helping preserve asset value and improving the prospects of confiscation and victim restitution or compensation.\n\n### Safeguards and limits\n\nBefore any Notice is circulated, it must pass a strict legal compliance review to ensure that it complies with INTERPOL’s Constitution, including the prohibition on matters of a political, military, racial or religious character. These safeguards are essential to maintaining trust between member countries and protecting the system from misuse, particularly in sensitive or high-profile cases.\n\nThe Silver Notice is also deliberately designed to avoid coercive overreach. Key safeguards include:\n\n*   restriction to serious criminal offences;\n*   a requirement for a clear factual link between the assets and suspected criminal conduct;\n*   use within the framework of national legal systems, including judicial or prosecutorial oversight where required.\n\nAt the same time, Silver Notices are not without limitations. For example, in politically sensitive cases, careful scrutiny is required to ensure that asset-tracing requests are not used to advance improper objectives. This makes the robustness and independence of INTERPOL’s compliance review mechanisms particularly important.\n\nUltimately, Silver Notices are not a solution to all asset recovery challenges. Their effectiveness depends on domestic legal framework and the willingness and ability of authorities to act on shared intelligence. They enhance international cooperation, but they do not replace the need for strong national asset recovery regimes or effective MLA processes.\n\n### Closing the enforcement gap\n\nThe speed at which criminal assets move across borders continues to outpace traditional enforcement tools. Silver Notices respond to this challenge by enabling earlier asset tracing and more timely operational engagement between jurisdictions.\n\nMore broadly, Silver Notices reflect an evolving approach to financial crime enforcement that prioritises proactive, intelligence-led intervention over reactive asset recovery at the end of lengthy criminal proceedings. Silver Notices are an enabler, not a shortcut. Used effectively and responsibly, they can strengthen the strategic focus on asset recovery and materially improve the prospects of asset confiscation and victim restitution.\n\n_This blog is also published on the [Hochschule Luzern Economic Crime Blog here](https:\u002F\u002Fhub.hslu.ch\u002Feconomiccrime\u002F?p=6536)._","Blog","2026-03-16","interpol-silver-notices-speeding-up-the-tracing-of-criminal-assets-2944","INTERPOL Silver Notices: Speeding up the tracing of criminal assets","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fdaf2f81c-8270-46aa-93a2-3a8a469a7420?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[117,14],"Anti-Money Laundering",[119],"Insights",[],2944,[117,20],[119],[125],1371,[],[],"2026-04-15T22:45:19.000Z","2026-05-29T22:22:40.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Finterpol-silver-notices-speeding-up-the-tracing-of-criminal-assets-2944",{"id":133,"body":134,"status":6,"type":110,"date":135,"slug":136,"title":137,"image":138,"countries":139,"topic":140,"activity":141,"tags":143,"nid":152,"topics":153,"activities":154,"authors":155,"images":156,"websites":22,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":157,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":158,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":104,"content":159,"link":160},10602,"_By J. Edward (Ned) Conway, Executive Secretary, The Wolfsberg Group_\n\nAs virtual assets move into the mainstream of traditional finance, tricky questions arise. What does a reasonable, risk-based control framework look like for banks that provide services to virtual asset service providers (VASPs)? And how can compliance teams strengthen private-to-private information sharing to better detect suspicious activity?\n\nThese were some of the questions tackled by the [Wolfsberg Group](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002F) at the 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets, organised by the Basel Institute on Governance, Europol and UNODC and held in Vienna on 28–29 October 2025.\n\nThe Wolfsberg Group is an association of 12 global banks that develops frameworks and guidance for the management of financial crime risks. Housed at the Basel Institute on Governance, this long-standing initiative brings together senior financial crime compliance leaders through various working groups, including one dedicated to virtual assets.\n\nThis flagship event provided a valuable platform for the Group to explain its [Stablecoin Guidance](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002Fresources\u002F204\u002F), gauge interest in a specific Due Diligence Questionnaire focused on VASPs, and further advance efforts to break down silos in private-to-private information sharing.\n\nThis blog summarises some of the key discussions – dialogues that are continuing in dedicated meetings and consultations of the Wolfsberg Group with members, regulators and institutional partners.\n\n### Regulatory clarity as a catalyst for TradFi–VASP relationships?\n\nDay 1 of the conference saw Ned Conway, Executive Secretary of the Wolfsberg Group, moderate a high-level panel discussion featuring representatives from Circle, Bullish and Société Générale on the theme _“Bridging the TradFi–DeFi Gap.”_\n\nThe panel discussed the barriers to relationship building between traditional finance (TradFi) institutions such as banks and VASPs such as cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers. The speakers noted that a lack of trust and understanding persists, particularly around risks specific to virtual assets.\n\nThat is one reason that TradFi is slow to onboard VASPs as clients and provide them with the banking services they need in order to operate. However, stablecoins are helping bridge this gap by bringing parts of the crypto universe under regulatory frameworks.\n\nTradFi institutions underlined that they would benefit from clearer scenarios from regulators on where collaboration and information sharing would be permissible between regulated entities and VASPs. Recent [guidance issued by regulators on stablecoins and virtual assets in Asia](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.hkma.gov.hk\u002Fmedia\u002Feng\u002Fdoc\u002Fkey-functions\u002Fifc\u002Fstablecoin-issuers\u002FGuideline_on_supervision_of_licensed_stablecoin_issuers_eng.pdf), in particular, could help improve confidence both ways in the TradFi-VASP relationship.\n\n### Aligning risk appetite, due diligence and monitoring for suspicious activity\n\nOn Day 2, a dedicated Wolfsberg side event brought together VASPs, FinTech firms and traditional banks for in-depth discussions. Representatives from several Wolfsberg member banks – Deutsche Bank, Citi, UBS, Société Générale, and Bank of America – joined the sessions.\n\nThe agenda focused on frameworks for information sharing, but the discussions touched upon a range of hot topics including:\n\n*   risk appetite and the risk-based approach;\n*   payment transparency (i.e. the [travel rule](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.eba.europa.eu\u002Fpublications-and-media\u002Fpress-releases\u002Feba-issues-travel-rule-guidance-tackle-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing-transfers-funds-and)); and\n*   approaches to monitoring for suspicious activity.\n\nDuring the discussions, participants highlighted that one of the main barriers to effective collaboration between traditional financial institutions and VASPs is a lack of mutual trust. Both sectors face difficulties in interacting with each other.\n\nThe [Wolfsberg Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002Fresources?type=cbddq-fccq&category=questionnaires) (CBDDQ) is useful for setting standards, but onboarding challenges could be overcome by framing risk in common language. Many viewed the current onboarding approaches as fragmented, and expressed strong support for the Wolfsberg Group to develop standardised guidance and a due diligence questionnaire for VASPs.\n\nQuestions remain about what is “reasonable” and “risk-based” for VASPs, especially for smaller institutions, and whether banks should monitor blockchain transactions themselves. VASPs need to be able to articulate their risk appetite, and how this changes as they continue to develop innovative products and services.\n\nVASP participants viewed the Wolfsberg Group’s [Stablecoin Guidance](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002Fresources\u002F204\u002F) as applicable beyond stablecoin issuers to the wider VASP ecosystem. This is particularly true for the tailored questions on the underlying control environment, and the linking of risk appetite directly to monitoring approaches.\n\n### Improving private-private information sharing on suspicious activity\n\nDiscussion on information sharing between TradFi and VASPs highlighted that this can rely heavily on personal relationships across entities, limiting scalability.\n\nVASPs showed concern around sharing wallet addresses under private-to-private information sharing frameworks, given geopolitical trends and concerns around the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, consensus emerged that better data sharing both increases the quality of suspicious activity reports (SARs) and reduces SAR volumes.\n\nParticularly on this latter point, activities often thought to be suspicious in a silo are better understood when viewed from multiple perspectives, confirming the importance of information exchange.\n\n### Continuing to build bridges as the financial system evolves\n\nBridging the gap between TradFi and DeFi remains a central theme in the Wolfsberg Group’s strategy. The Vienna events offered a unique opportunity to engage key stakeholders across the sector and advance this important dialogue.\n\nThe side event was opened by Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of the Basel Institute on Governance. The Wolfsberg Group extends its sincere thanks to the Basel Institute for the opportunity to co-host this side event and to participate in the 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets.\n\n### Learn more\n\n*   Learn more about the [Wolfsberg Group](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002F) and explores its guidance and [resources](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002Fresources) on managing financial crime risk, including its [Stablecoin Guidance](https:\u002F\u002Fwolfsberg-group.org\u002Fresources\u002F204\u002F).\n*   Learn more about the [9th Global Conference](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fglobal-experts-advance-joint-fight-against-crypto-enabled-crime) and see selected recordings.\n*   Find out about the [10th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002F10crc) on 15–16 September 2026 in Luxembourg.","2026-02-11","advancing-trust-and-standards-between-banks-and-virtual-asset-service-providers-lessons-from-wolfsberg-group-events-at-the-9th-global-conference-2929","Advancing trust and standards between banks and virtual asset service providers – lessons from Wolfsberg Group events at the 9th Global Conference","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fc0f797c0-3af2-47b9-92aa-20efc3f95cce?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[117,14],[142],"Events",[144,148],{"tags_id":145},{"id":146,"name":147},854,"Virtual assets",{"tags_id":149},{"id":150,"name":151},818,"Anti-money laundering",2929,[117,20],[142],[],[],[],"2026-02-27T15:07:18.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fadvancing-trust-and-standards-between-banks-and-virtual-asset-service-providers-lessons-from-wolfsberg-group-events-at-the-9th-global-conference-2929",{"id":162,"body":163,"status":6,"type":10,"date":164,"slug":165,"title":166,"image":167,"countries":168,"topic":170,"activity":171,"tags":173,"nid":174,"topics":175,"activities":176,"authors":177,"images":178,"websites":22,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":179,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":180,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":104,"content":181,"link":182},10603,"The fight against criminal misuse of cryptoassets enters its next chapter.\n\nJoin us on 15–16 September 2026 for the 10th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets – held this year in Luxembourg at the European Convention Centre and online.\n\nThis landmark edition will be hosted by Luxembourg’s [Bureau de gestion des avoirs](https:\u002F\u002Fbga.gouvernement.lu\u002Ffr.html) (BGA), alongside the Basel Institute on Governance, Europol and UNODC as co-organisers.\n\nRenowned as a leading global forum, the conference brings together practitioners from across sectors and regions to tackle the evolving threats posed by criminal exploitation of cryptoassets and related services.\n\nExpect cutting-edge insights, candid exchanges and practical solutions aimed at safeguarding individuals, businesses and the integrity of financial systems worldwide.\n\n*   Day 1 – 15 September: Open to experts from all sectors, with a strong focus on public–private collaboration, emerging risks and real-world practice.\n*   Day 2 – 16 September: Reserved for public authorities, including law enforcement, prosecutors, financial intelligence units, asset management offices and regulators, with in-depth case studies and operational insights.\n\n### Learn more\n\n*   See more information on the official [10th Global Conference event page](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002F10crc).\n*   Sign up to the [conference mailing list](http:\u002F\u002Feepurl.com\u002FiCwSMo) to be notified when registration opens.\n*   If you would like to submit a proposal to present, moderate a panel discussion or lead a breakout session, [please use this form](https:\u002F\u002Fforms.gle\u002FvXZjotdYgxbk1oRT6).","2026-02-10","save-the-date-10th-global-conference-on-criminal-finances-and-cryptoassets-2932","Save the date: 10th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F7048f59e-5619-4a67-a552-67d57cbf2cb5?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[169],7805,[117,14],[142,172],"Partnerships",[],2932,[117,20],[142,172],[],[],[],"2026-02-27T15:07:20.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fsave-the-date-10th-global-conference-on-criminal-finances-and-cryptoassets-2932",{"id":184,"body":185,"status":6,"type":110,"date":186,"slug":187,"title":188,"image":189,"countries":190,"topic":22,"activity":22,"tags":191,"nid":22,"topics":192,"activities":195,"authors":198,"images":200,"websites":201,"area":202,"programme":205,"language":101,"translations":207,"translation_of":22,"user_created":208,"date_created":209,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":104,"content":210,"link":211},10590,"This feature appears in the 2025 Basel AML Index Public Edition report. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Findex.baselgovernance.org\u002Fdownloads\">Download the full report and related resources\u003C\u002Fa>.\n\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Ch3>Key takeaways\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Understanding national risks linked to virtual assets is now essential\u003C\u002Fstrong>, as their use has moved from niche to mainstream and is increasingly exploited for financial crime. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Risk assessments are inherently challenging \u003C\u002Fstrong>as (a) virtual assets are borderless by design, (b) large parts of the ecosystem fall outside regulation and (c) reliable national-level data remains limited. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Illicit activity involving virtual assets does not take place in isolation\u003C\u002Fstrong>: offenders exploit the same weaknesses – corruption, fraud, weak supervision and poor enforcement – that already undermine the wider financial system. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>The Basel AML Index provides valuable indicators to assess both a jurisdiction’s structural vulnerabilities and its capacity to counter threats \u003C\u002Fstrong>related to financial crimes in general, including those related to virtual assets, even though it does not include a dedicated virtual assets risk indicator. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\n\u003Cem>Note: in this article we use the term virtual assets in line with the FATF’s \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.fatf-gafi.org\u002Fen\u002Ftopics\u002Fvirtual-assets.html\">definition\u003C\u002Fa> of “any digital representation of value that can be digitally traded, transferred or used for payment”. The terms crypto, cryptoassets, digital assets, digital currencies, etc. form part of this loose family, though they are often defined differently in different contexts – a factor that also complicates risk assessments and data analysis.\u003C\u002Fem>\n\n\u003Ch3>\u003Cstrong>Why assessing risks related to virtual assets matters \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\nGovernments and private firms alike are under growing pressure to understand the risks associated with virtual assets. What was once a niche is becoming a mainstream part of financial markets and a common feature in all forms of financial crime.\n\nAs the virtual assets industry continues to mature, national authorities that lack a clear understanding of the risks find themselves on the back foot when drafting legislation, supervising market participants or countering financial crime.\n\nFor financial institutions, a clear picture of jurisdiction-level risk is essential for customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, calibrating controls and taking strategic decisions about where or where not to operate. Financial institutions that misjudge these risks leave themselves exposed to illicit finance, reputational harm and potential regulatory action.\n\n\u003Ch3>Why jurisdiction-level risk assessments are difficult\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\u003Ch4>1. A borderless system by design\u003C\u002Fh4>\n\nUnlike bank accounts or trust funds, virtual asset wallets or addresses do not have a meaningful jurisdictional location. There is no crypto equivalent of “a bank account in Switzerland”. A wallet can be accessed anywhere and may be controlled by a person or entity whose location is unknown or easily obscured. Large parts of the virtual asset ecosystem also fall outside the boundaries of traditional financial regulation. Self-hosted wallets, peer-to-peer transfers, decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols and informal over-the-counter (OTC) brokers create pockets of activity that are largely invisible. Any jurisdiction-level assessment will inevitably be incomplete.\n\nThe activities of virtual asset service providers (VASPs) further complicate matters. A VASP may be established in one jurisdiction while primarily serving customers in another. In the absence of harmonised legislation or cooperation among supervisors, many operate across numerous markets with minimal physical presence or regulatory engagement.\n\n\u003Ch4>2. Data is limited, patchy and uncertain\u003C\u002Fh4>\n\nReliable quantitative data on financial crime risks related to virtual assets at the national level is scarce. In addition to the issue of contrasting definitions and the technology’s borderless nature, several factors contribute to this lack.\n\nFirst, commercial blockchain analytics providers publish broad indicators of virtual asset adoption and estimates of illicit usage. These can be helpful for spotting trends but require careful interpretation. They rely on estimates and proxies, including web traffic to exchanges or intermediaries, and do not provide precise amounts or reliably distinguish licit from illicit activity.\n\nSecond, it is reasonable to assume that where adoption rises, illicit activity will also increase, simply because criminals use the same infrastructure as legitimate users. However, such relationships cannot be measured with confidence.\n\nThird, at the government level, many jurisdictions still lack a coordinated approach across authorities to collect, share and analyse statistics on money laundering and related financial crimes. In many jurisdictions, data on virtual assets is either not gathered consistently or not collected at all.\n\nWithout reliable data on virtual assets usage and risks, national risk assessments may become detached from real-world threats. The result: regulation and supervision that is either insufficient or unnecessarily burdensome.\n\n### How the Basel AML Index can be used\n\nFor the above reasons, the Basel AML Index does not offer a dedicated indicator for virtual assets. Nevertheless, the Index data is still useful because illicit activity involving virtual assets typically exploits the same underlying weaknesses that enable money laundering, corruption, fraud and other financial crimes in the traditional financial system. Where protections against fraud are weak, for example, where supervision is lacking or where enforcement of regulations is inconsistent or politically compromised, opportunities to misuse virtual assets for illegal purposes tend to expand.\n\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cstrong>Two components of risk \u003C\u002Fstrong>\n\nIn line with the holistic methodology of the Basel AML Index and most AML\u002FCFT risk assessment frameworks, evaluating jurisdiction-level risk related to virtual assets centres on two elements:\n\n\u003Cp>a) \u003Cem>vulnerability \u003C\u002Fem>to the illicit use of virtual assets; and b) \u003Cem>capacity to mitigate \u003C\u002Fem>and respond to these threats. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\n### Relevant indicators\n\nThe following graphic highlights indicators of the Basel AML Index that are relevant for assessing either \u003Cem>structural vulnerabilities \u003C\u002Fem>that illicit actors may exploit, or a jurisdiction’s \u003Cem>capacity to counter \u003C\u002Fem>threats. These can be viewed individually in the Expert Edition.\n\n![](https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F7f446525-136f-4018-a322-8a4e8872f23b) *Indicators visible in the Basel AML Index Edition that are particularly relevant to assessing national risks relating to virtual assets.*\n\n\n#### FATF data\n\nUsing the Expert Edition Plus subscription and its quantitative analysis of the latest FATF mutual evaluation and follow-up reports, Basel AML Index users can gain rapid insights into whether a jurisdiction’s AML\u002FCFT framework provides it with the capacity to \u003Cem>counter threats \u003C\u002Fem>related to financial crimes generally, including those involving virtual assets. FATF Recommendations that may be highly relevant for this include:\n\n- R.15 (new technologies)\n- R.16 (payment transparency)\n- R.26 & 27 (regulation and supervision)\n- R.29–31 (law enforcement)\n- R.36–40 (international cooperation)\n\nAn additional useful source of information for jurisdiction-level risk assessments is the FATF’s \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.fatf-gafi.org\u002Fen\u002Fpublications\u002FFatfrecommendations\u002Ftargeted-update-virtual-assets-vasps-2025.html\">\u003Cem>2025 Targeted Update on Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fa>. This report summarises progress in implementing FATF Recommendation 15 by FATF members and additional jurisdictions with materially important global virtual asset activity. “Materially important” refers to the presence of large VASPs (accounting for more than 0.25 percent of global trading) and\u002For a large virtual asset user base.\n\n### Where to start\n\nFor jurisdictions at an early stage of assessing national risks related to virtual assets, the World Bank’s \u003Cem>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fopenknowledge.worldbank.org\u002Fentities\u002Fpublication\u002Fbb5a7475-ac52-4697-afdc-5f618a550623\">AML\u002FCFT National Risk Assessment on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers: Guidance Manual\u003C\u002Fa> \u003C\u002Fem>(published in October 2025) is a strong starting point. It covers both threats and vulnerabilities, as well as the effectiveness of mitigation measures.\n\nAdditional useful resources include:\n- \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002F9crc-crypto-regulation\">\u003Cstrong>Practical recommendations from regulators and supervisors\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa>, developed at the 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets, on understanding financial crime risks linked to virtual assets and designing effective regulatory and supervisory frameworks.\n- \u003Cstrong>Structured public–private partnerships\u003C\u002Fstrong>, such as the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fefippp.eu\u002F\">Europol Financial Intelligence Sharing Public Private Partnership\u003C\u002Fa>, which offer opportunities to learn from peers and obtain early insights into emerging threats and financial crime typologies involving virtual assets.\n","2025-12-08","assessing-national-risks-related-to-virtual-assets","Assessing national risks related to virtual assets","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F78f8a1ec-bf8d-469a-ab92-228e79ddd8f2?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[],[117,20,193,194],"Business Integrity Ethics and Compliance","Corruption Prevention and Public Governance",[196,197],"Basel AML Index","Research",[199],1365,[],[196],[203,204],"Asset Recovery & Enforcement","Business Integrity & Governance",[206],"International Centre for Asset Recovery",[],"545a204d-e41b-4882-afda-481ecf3fd971","2025-12-05T11:43:36.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fassessing-national-risks-related-to-virtual-assets",{"id":213,"body":214,"status":6,"type":10,"date":186,"slug":215,"title":216,"image":217,"countries":218,"topic":22,"activity":22,"tags":219,"nid":220,"topics":221,"activities":222,"authors":224,"images":225,"websites":226,"area":227,"programme":228,"language":101,"translations":229,"translation_of":22,"user_created":230,"date_created":231,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":104,"content":232,"link":233},10591,"**The 14th Public Edition of the [Basel AML Index](https:\u002F\u002Findex.baselgovernance.org) shows a world where money laundering risks are levelling out, with improvements in some high-risk countries balanced by declines in traditionally low-risk ones.**\n\nDeveloped and maintained by the Basel Institute on Governance since 2012, the Basel AML Index is an independent, data-based ranking and risk assessment tool for money laundering and related financial crime risks around the world.\n\nAt the heart of the Basel AML Index is a ranking of countries and jurisdictions according to their vulnerability to money laundering and related financial crimes and their capacity to counter these threats. This year, 177 countries are included in the Public Edition. Myanmar, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo receive the highest risk scores, while Finland, Iceland and San Marino have the lowest.\n\n## Key trends\nThis year’s Basel AML Index report highlights current trends and debates around the fight against financial crime, including:\n\n- **The global average Basel AML Index risk score nudged down slightly from 5.30 to 5.28.** The shift is statistically insignificant. However, it gives hope that efforts to curb money laundering are not yet being fully overtaken by emerging threats, such as the use of virtual assets and artificial intelligence for crime.\n- **More than half of jurisdictions improved their scores while 43 percent worsened.** The pattern points to a drift towards the middle, as progress in several higher-risk jurisdictions is offset by slippage among long-standing strong performers.\n- **Results across risk domains are mixed:** modest improvements in the quality of anti-money laundering frameworks and small reductions in corruption overall, but weaker financial transparency, rising concerns over public accountability and wide regional variation in political and legal risks.\n- **Regional trends diverge too.** North America, the EU and Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa all saw higher average risks. Other regions saw slight improvements, most notably Sub-Saharan Africa, with six African countries leaving the Financial Action Task Force grey list and seven among the top ten global improvers.\n\n## Emerging challenges\nThis year’s report includes two deep-dive features examining specific challenges facing anti-financial crime practitioners in both the public and private sectors:\n\n### *Identifying lower-risk jurisdictions*\n\nThough global standards increasingly call for more proportionate use of the risk-based approach to reduce compliance burdens and avoid unintended consequences for financial inclusion, many financial institutions still struggle to assess what constitutes a lower-risk jurisdiction.\n\nThe report explains why this remains difficult and how the Expert Edition of the Basel AML Index now applies a more balanced three-part risk categorisation to help users consider their own risk categories and risk appetite.\n\n### *Assessing risks related to virtual assets*\n\nAs crypto or virtual assets move from niche to mainstream, understanding their risks has become essential. Yet assessment remains difficult because the ecosystem is largely borderless, only partly regulated and supported by limited data.\n\nThe report emphasises that illicit activity involving virtual assets typically exploits the same weaknesses – such as corruption, fraud, weak supervision and poor enforcement – that already undermine the wider financial system. It outlines how users can assess structural vulnerabilities and a jurisdiction’s overall capacity to counter financial crime threats relevant to virtual assets, even without a dedicated virtual assets indicator.\n\n## Shining a light\nElizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of the Basel Institute on Governance, comments:\n\n> Tackling money laundering and related financial crimes – crimes like corruption, fraud, environmental crime and drug trafficking that have drastic impacts on people's lives – begins with understanding the risks. That is what the Basel AML Index is for. More than a simple score, it is a tool to explore the factors that underlie a jurisdiction’s risk profile. We hope it continues to guide policymakers and practitioners as they concentrate attention and resources where they can have the most impact.\n\n## About the Basel AML Index\nThe Basel AML Index is an independent, data-based ranking and risk assessment tool for money laundering and related financial crime risks around the world. It provides risk scores based on data from 17 publicly accessible sources. The risk scores cover five domains relevant to assessing risks of money laundering at the country or jurisdiction level:\n\n - Quality of AML\u002FCFT\u002FCPF framework\n- Corruption and fraud\n- Financial transparency and standards\n- Public transparency and accountability\n- Legal and political risks\n\nThe Basel AML Index is developed and maintained by the Basel Institute on Governance through its International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR). ICAR benefits from core funding from the Governments of Jersey, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the UK.\n\n\u003Ch3>Learn more\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\u003Cul>\n\t\u003Cli>Visit the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Findex.baselgovernance.org\u002F\">Basel AML Index website\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\t\u003Cli>View the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=qUv7DEBYEO0\">launch event on YouTube\u003C\u002Fa> and \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2025-12\u002FTranscript%20of%20Basel%20AML%20Index%20launch%202025.pdf\">download the transcript\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n","basel-aml-index-2025-reveals-uneven-progress-global-fight-against-financial-crime","Basel AML Index 2025 reveals uneven progress in the global fight against financial crime","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F675491bf-33d4-4a28-adef-70539426660b?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[],2892,[117,20],[196,197,223,119],"Reports",[],[],[196,24],[203],[206],[],"b0662e2a-864d-4888-a1b7-4342b7570b30","2025-12-08T08:35:06.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fbasel-aml-index-2025-reveals-uneven-progress-global-fight-against-financial-crime",{"id":235,"body":236,"status":6,"type":110,"date":237,"slug":238,"title":239,"image":240,"countries":241,"topic":242,"activity":243,"tags":244,"nid":245,"topics":246,"activities":247,"authors":248,"images":251,"websites":22,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":252,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":253,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":254,"content":255,"link":256},10584,"As cryptoassets and other blockchain-based tokens enter the mainstream, alarm bells are ringing about the risks of their misuse. The technology is neutral in itself, but like any mechanism to transfer value, it can and does facilitate a wide range of crimes.\n\nAnd it’s not just scams, hacks and ransomware attacks. Cryptoassets are now seen in practically all crime types, from drug trafficking and terrorist financing to sanctions evasion, and increasingly as a tool for laundering the proceeds of those crimes.\n\nWhen it comes to the links between crypto and _corruption_, research and closed case examples are still scant. But since both are important enablers of crime, it’s vital to better understand how they intersect.\n\nThis blog outlines some basic areas of concern. Despite the gaps in data and analysis, one thing is clear. While the technologies are fairly new, the corrupt practices are not: they are simply manifesting in different ways.\n\n> _Crypto and corruption: what we mean_\n> \n> _In this blog we take a broad view of both crypto and corruption. By “crypto”, we mean cryptoassets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as well as stablecoins tied to fiat currencies such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC); plus other digital tokens that run on public, decentralised blockchains. The scope also includes the companies, industries and services built around crypto, as well as the systems for their regulation and supervision and for law enforcement. “Corruption” refers not just to bribery, but to any abuse of entrusted power for undue benefit – whether financial or political, whether personal or for a collective entity._\n\n### 1 Crypto for bribery\n\nIs crypto a brilliant way to pay bribes and kickbacks? Transfers are pseudonymous after all – linked to long wallet addresses like _1Lbcfr2sAHTG9CgdQo3HTMTkV7LK4ZnX75_ rather than names. Transfers can be made directly between individuals, through decentralised platforms or peer-to-peer transactions, which avoids awkward questions about who is who and where the money comes from.\n\nCrypto holdings are easier to keep private, so might not be included in the asset declarations of politically exposed persons keen not to reveal all of their hidden wealth. And it’s fast and easy: you can transfer crypto to any person, anywhere in the world at the touch of a button. That makes it superficially more attractive than an international bank transfer, and less hassle and personal risk than travelling to another continent carrying suitcases stuffed with cash.\n\nSome clearly think crypto is great for bribes:\n\n*   In 2024, a Ukrainian Member of Parliament was [sentenced to eight years in prison](https:\u002F\u002Fhacc-decided.ti-ukraine.org\u002Fen\u002Fnews\u002Fnardepa-odarcenka-zasudili-do-8-rokiv-vyaznici) for offering a bribe of EUR 46,000 in bitcoin to secure funding for reconstruction projects.\n*   Crypto payments were allegedly made to a former senior official at the China Securities Regulatory Commission in return for [abuses of power](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ccn.com\u002Fnews\u002Fcrypto\u002Fyao-qian-china-cbdc-crypto-corruption\u002F) in making appointments and securing loans – alongside expensive liquor and invitations to banquets.\n*   In June 2025, two employees of the state-owned China Construction Bank were charged in Hong Kong with bribery and other offences: they allegedly accepted around USD 470,000 in crypto in exchange for [authenticating false documents](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.artemis.bm\u002Fnews\u002Fchina-construction-bank-manager-accused-of-accepting-bribes-from-vesttoo-employee\u002F) for the now-bankrupt Israeli firm Vesttoo.\n\nYet the use of crypto for bribery has a unique vulnerability: transactions on public blockchains are permanent and publicly visible. If investigators can verifiably link an address to a suspect, the evidence of the bribery remains accessible forever.\n\nSadly, it’s pretty hard to identify bribes or kickbacks being paid unless you already know there’s a bribery scheme or you know the addresses of suspected accomplices. That might explain why major crypto bribery cases haven’t surfaced (yet!).\n\n### 2 Laundering proceeds of corruption using crypto\n\nWhat about laundering the proceeds of corruption? For those with a lot of dirty money to launder, crypto adds a new dimension to the playbook.\n\nSure, keep the shell companies and offshore bank accounts, the trusts and real estate and gambling schemes, the hawala networks. Now you can add to the mix by converting corrupt proceeds into crypto, converting these to other coins, hopping across blockchains and using privacy-enhancing technologies to throw investigators off track.\n\nAs adoption of tokenised assets grows – digital representations of financial or real-world assets – we can expect corrupt actors to buy not only villas in Tuscany and ski apartments in Switzerland, but tokens representing these. And while you can’t ski on a digital token, it is likely attractive to money launderers to be able to trade in a broad range of investments while keeping the beneficial owner hidden.\n\nAre corrupt actors using crypto to launder their funds? There’s little direct evidence, but it does seem likely. Corrupt individuals have long relied on professional money laundering services, often provided by lawyers and accountants. [Europol](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.europol.europa.eu\u002Fpublications-events\u002Fmain-reports\u002Fsocta-report) warns that these professionals,\n\n> “increasingly with specialised knowledge in digital asset trading, have developed parallel, underground financial systems that operate outside the regulatory frameworks governing legal financial institutions”.\n\nAnd we do see that law enforcement is starting to take down organised groups that specialise in laundering illicit funds, including through crypto.\n\nAn [Australian takedown](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ato.gov.au\u002Fmedia-centre\u002Falleged-qld-money-laundering-organisation-dismantled) of an organised money laundering operation in June 2025, for example points to millions of tainted Australian dollars laundered through crypto exchanges as well as bank accounts, couriers, a car dealership and a sales company. Some outfits specialise in a specific clientele: in the Europol-coordinated [Operation Karasu](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.europol.europa.eu\u002Fmedia-press\u002Fnewsroom\u002Fnews\u002F17-providers-of-criminal-banking-services-arrested) in 2025, authorities arrested 17 suspects alleged to be providing money laundering services to Chinese- and Arabic-speaking clients using hawala banking, cash transactions and crypto.\n\nThe largest blockbuster takedown to date is the [October 2025 indictment of the Chairman of Prince Group](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.justice.gov\u002Fopa\u002Fpr\u002Fchairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged), a Cambodia-based multinational business enterprise, and the filing of a forfeiture action for more than 127,000 bitcoin – approximately USD 15 billion at the time of seizure. The press release described the use of professional money laundering operations and pointed to highly sophisticated techniques, such as “spraying” stolen cryptoassets across multiple addresses to obscure the trail of the funds.\n\nCommenting on the indictment, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration highlighted the role of corruption in such schemes. He explained how: \n\n> complex criminal schemes \\[such as this\\] exploit global financial systems and emerging technologies to conceal illicit proceeds. These networks operate at the intersection of drug trafficking, corruption, and financial crime, threatening the stability of institutions and communities, alike.\n\n### 3 Corrupt law enforcement in crypto cases\n\nSay you’re a law enforcement officer – a public servant. You’re one of the few in your agency with the technical skills to trace and seize cryptoassets suspected of being involved in crime.\n\nYou see an opportunity to supplement your salary by stealing crypto during an investigation or taking payments from criminals to leave their holdings in peace. Nobody will know – surely?\n\n*   That’s what two US agents from the [Drug Enforcement Administration](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.justice.gov\u002Farchives\u002Fopa\u002Fpr\u002Fformer-dea-agent-sentenced-extortion-money-laundering-and-obstruction-related-silk-road) and [Secret Service](http:\u002F\u002Fwww.justice.gov\u002Farchives\u002Fopa\u002Fpr\u002Fformer-secret-service-agent-sentenced-scheme-related-silk-road-investigation) thought, when they abused their power as law enforcement officers and their access to government-controlled wallets to steal tens of millions of USD in bitcoin linked to the takedown of the illicit Silk Road online marketplace.\n*   In Russia, a former investigator was found guilty in 2023 of [accepting bitcoin bribes](https:\u002F\u002Fcointelegraph.com\u002Fnews\u002Frussia-seizes-10-million-bitcoin-from-official-biggest-bribery) equivalent to tens of millions of US dollars from an organised crime group in order not to confiscate their bitcoin holdings – estimated at USD 138 million at the time.\n*   In Iran, senior intelligence officers of the Revolutionary Guard are alleged to have gained around USD 21 million during the takedown of the Cryptoland exchange: following the CEO’s arrest, they [stole and sold his tokens](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.iranintl.com\u002Fen\u002F202503309549) before the arrest was made public and the tokens’ value collapsed. \n\nIt’s not uncommon for law enforcement officers to go rogue, or for bribes to be paid to influence law enforcement actions or judicial proceedings. So authorities don’t just need to build capacity to go after crypto-related crime. They also need to look out for crypto-related corruption risks among their own ranks, including entities such as asset management offices that have custody over seized and confiscated cryptoassets.\n\n### 4 When the crypto industry meets politics\n\nCrypto is a fast-evolving industry that demonstrates genuinely exciting financial and technological innovation. It’s no wonder that politicians all over the world are getting interested.\n\nCorrupt behaviour by politicians involving the crypto industry is still a realm of speculation, as data on real-world cases is sparse. But red flags for corruption are a common feature of all fast-growing, profitable industries with highly technical aspects, like mining and defence. So, it is sensible to look out for common risks, which span from licencing schemes to the shaping of cryptoasset regulations or the resources put into enforcement.\n\nWhen it comes to public trust in government, even suspicions of crypto-related wrongdoing matter. Examples range from a [political financing scandal in Colombia](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.theblock.co\u002Fpost\u002F293857\u002Fcolombian-president-crypto-donation-campaign-2022-daily-cop) to [graft accusations in Venezuela](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.barrons.com\u002Fnews\u002Fvenezuela-kills-off-petro-cryptocurrency-1e2b0317) and to allegations of [crypto-related irregularity affecting the US President](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.economist.com\u002Fleaders\u002F2025\u002F05\u002F15\u002Fcrypto-has-become-the-ultimate-swamp-asset) and his family.\n\nAnd in the Czech Republic, when the Justice Ministry [accepted a bitcoin donation](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.occrp.org\u002Fen\u002Fnews\u002Fbitcoin-scandal-triggers-czech-government-crisis) worth around USD 46 million from a convicted criminal, the ensuing scandal triggered a public investigation and the resignation of the Justice Minister; some feared it might even topple the government.\n\n### 5 Corruption fuelling organised crime and state capture\n\nThe link between crypto and corruption with possibly the most damaging social impact is its role in enabling criminal gangs to carry out cybercrime and launder money with impunity.\n\nAs detailed in a 2025 UNODC report on [corruption and cybercrime](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.unodc.org\u002Froseap\u002Fuploads\u002Fdocuments\u002FPublications\u002F2025\u002F2025.10.21_The_Nexus_Between_Cybercrime_and_Corruption.pdf), corruption both creates the “permissive environment” that allow cybercrime operations to flourish and “enables many daily operations of cybercriminal networks.”\n\nIn [Southeast Asia](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.unodc.org\u002Froseap\u002Fen\u002F2025\u002F04\u002Fcyberfraud-inflection-point-mekong\u002Fstory.html), for example, a separate UNODC report depicts how industrial-scale scam centres run by organised crime groups generate huge amounts of illegal revenue – mostly in crypto. Despite often being plainly identified in public reports, they remain operational and engage in human trafficking to obtain unwilling workers. The report emphasises “high rates of corruption which criminal actors can leverage” to continue their scam operations unmolested.\n\nUNODC warns that the revenue generated by scam centres, coupled with the ability to easily launder the stolen crypto, is increasing the power and influence of organised crime groups as well as their financial liquidity. And that gives them even more ability to corrupt and capture politicians and states.\n\nThat may already be happening, according to a November 2025 _Economist_ report on [allegations of political collusion](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.economist.com\u002Fasia\u002F2025\u002F11\u002F20\u002Fthe-politicians-protecting-huge-criminal-networks) in scam operations in Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand. These have led to the resignation of a deputy finance minister, the jailing of a mayor and a warning from Thailand's deputy leader of the opposition that without action against politicians colluding in scam operations,\n\n> “we’ll wake up to find the country run by crooks in suits\".\n\n### What to do?\n\nCrypto represents an exciting transformation in financial systems. The industry and its underlying technology could improve privacy, efficiency and access to financial markets. This may benefit many people poorly served by today’s centralised systems.\n\nBut without a clear understanding of crypto-related risks and proper safeguards, the industry could create more opportunities for corruption and related financial crimes such as money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion. Crypto-fuelled corruption could weaken trust in governments and be leveraged to undermine the stability and security of nation states.\n\nAt the Basel Institute, we’re keen to explore better how the worlds of crypto and corruption intersect and how best to mitigate both systemic and day-to-day risks. We’re also committed to building the capacity of anti-corruption and asset recovery practitioners to “follow the money” across blockchains and to connect these to wider financial and criminal investigations.\n\nBeyond training for [individuals](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcrypto-aml-training) and [public agencies](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002FICAR-training), we also bring together people from across sectors and geographies at our annual [Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002F9crc) together with Europol and UNODC. Look out for more on this topic in the coming months!","2025-11-27","crypto-the-ultimate-enabler-of-corruption-2882","Crypto: the ultimate enabler of corruption?","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fd41fd31d-6c56-48e0-96cc-2be74f18b731?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[14],[119],[],2882,[20],[119],[249,250],1360,1361,[],[],"2025-11-27T17:01:44.000Z","2026-05-29T22:22:38.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fcrypto-the-ultimate-enabler-of-corruption-2882",{"id":258,"body":259,"status":6,"type":110,"date":260,"slug":261,"title":262,"image":263,"countries":264,"topic":265,"activity":266,"tags":267,"nid":268,"topics":269,"activities":270,"authors":271,"images":272,"websites":273,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":274,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":275,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":104,"content":276,"link":277},10586,"A breakout session at the [9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002F9crc) gathered regulators, supervisors and experts from more than 20 jurisdictions to discuss practical approaches to regulating and supervising cryptoassets. The central aim was to provide hands-on guidance and tips for jurisdictions at early stages of regulating and supervising cryptoassets.\n\nStructured around three key themes – building blocks for regulation, managing cross-border risks, and sustainable cooperation and peer support – the session captured actionable recommendations and insights from global best practices. A follow-up online meeting served to validate and enhance the draft practical recommendations below.\n\n### 1 Base regulatory frameworks on a clear, in-depth understanding of risks\n\n*   Start with a comprehensive national risk assessment that accounts for domestic and cross-border threats, as well as geopolitical factors. Other factors to take into account include market structure, business models, and prudential, conduct, operational and outsourcing risks. \n*   Prioritise quality over quantity in licensing or registration regimes and oversight models to ensure supervisors have adequate capacity to oversee all licensed\u002Fregistered entities. \n*   Consider providing pre-application consultations and enhanced guidance to parties wishing to be licensed as cryptoasset service providers.\n*   Use regulatory sandboxes to test innovative products and collect insights on emerging risks and technologies.\n\n> Advantages of regulatory sandboxes\n> \n> *   Test products and services in a real environment with real users.\n> *   Conduct supervised testing to identify and prevent potential flaws or regulatory breaches before the product’s final rollout.\n> *   Define new regulatory requirements or amend existing ones based on practical, real-world experience.\n\n_Why this matters:_ _A risk-based approach ensures scarce supervisory resources are deployed where it matters the most, thus supporting risk mitigation. Such an approach helps ensure that frameworks evolve as risks and technologies develop._\n\n### 2 Build strong coordination structures across government and sectors\n\n*   Set up structured working groups across relevant authorities, such as the central bank, tax authority, securities regulator, financial intelligence unit and law enforcement agencies, with the aim of enhancing internal coordination and building a common understanding. These groups can help ensure that policymakers integrate enforcement mechanisms at the policy design stage, for example in a stablecoin policy, the technical capability to freeze or block transactions as a condition for compliance. Within the main regulatory authority (such as the central bank), a formal arrangement such as a structured project framework can also enhance coordination. \n*   Establish and\u002For engage in structured public-private partnerships, such as working groups and task forces combining industry practitioners, legal specialists and academic experts, to enhance information sharing and awareness of market developments. Take care however to respect data privacy and other relevant regulations. \n*   Include wider policy goals like innovation, inclusion and economic resilience in regulatory design. \n\n_Why this matters:_ _Crypto markets cut across multiple policy domains. Whole-of-government coordination reduces gaps, aligns priorities and builds resilience against emerging risks._\n\n### 3 Use phased and proactive supervisory engagement\n\n*   Engage directly with industry actors through workshops, compliance days and joint training. Clearly communicate expectations on governance standards, safeguarding of client assets, outsourcing arrangements and technology risk management during early engagement.\n*   Encourage compliance through education rather than enforcement alone. \n*   Use structured questionnaires, interviews and audit reports to risk-rate firms before deciding on onsite or offsite inspections. \n*   Integrate risk-based supervisory models aligned with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, applying proportional measures based on business models and risk profiles.\n\n_Why this matters:_ _Early-stage regimes benefit from proactive, educative supervision that builds sector capacity and reduces systemic non-compliance._\n\n### 4 Leverage data, traceability and technology\n\n*   Use blockchain analytics & intelligence, open-source intelligence and financial intelligence unit data to develop a comprehensive risk picture. Surveys of relevant market participants – including during on-site supervision – can contribute to a dashboard of aggregated sector data, such as total transaction volume, number of transactions, number of clients and their associated risk levels, as well as cross-border transaction counts and volumes. Common supervisory data also includes detailed information that enables reconciliation and further investigation, including wallet addresses, transaction amounts and ownership details.\n*   Promote interoperability and standardisation of blockchain analytics & intelligence tools for consistent supervision and risk monitoring. \n*   Ensure existing cooperation channels and recovery mechanisms are suited for cryptoassets and adapt the regulatory framework and practice if needed. \n*   Adopt risk-based due diligence, enhanced cooperation and common supervisory templates, ensuring consistency across jurisdictions.\n\n> Blockchain analytics & intelligence applications for regulators and supervisors\n> \n> *   Early-warning systems to identify suspicious transactions and typologies (sanctions evasion, ransomware, market manipulation…).\n> *   Risk profiling that combines blockchain data with traditional supervisory information.\n> *   Cross-agency data fusion linking financial intelligence units, law enforcement and market regulators.\n> *   RegTech–SupTech integration for automated compliance monitoring.\n> *   Creation of regional and global intelligence nodes for secure data exchange.\n\n_Why this matters:_ _Blockchain analytics & intelligence enables supervisors to move from reactive investigation to proactive oversight. This facilitates earlier detection of cross-border risks and supports convergence with AML, prudential and conduct supervision._\n\n### 5 Build capacity and invest in skills and research\n\n*   Invest in specialist training and staffing. Capacity building is not only about training; it can also be built through structured exchange between colleagues responsible for different aspects of cryptoassets, such as AML\u002FCFT and prudential supervision.\n*   Scale supervisory capacity to market size and complexity. \n*   Extend capacity building to cover tokenised assets and smart-contract-based services.\n*   Engage with academic institutions – for example through research partnerships, joint workshops, internships and secondments – to facilitate structured knowledge sharing, rigorous research and the development of evidence-based methodologies. \n\n_Why this matters:_ _Skilled human capital is critical to interpret complex data and manage the diversity of crypto business models._\n\n### 6 Take early action and make full use of existing legislation\n\n*   Leverage existing legal frameworks (e.g. taxation, banking supervision, reporting obligations) to mitigate risks, in addition to and even prior to developing specific legislation. \n*   Circulate inquiries to all already-regulated financial institutions to assess their interactions with crypto-asset markets and to understand their future plans.\n*   Set supervisory expectations to guide financial institutions’ engagement with cryptoassets and services. It may help to communicate the guiding principle of “same activity, same risk, same regulation”, i.e. crypto activities should be subject to the same regulatory standards and supervisory expectations as traditional financial activities when they present similar risks.\n*   Conduct public awareness campaigns and wide consultations to shape proportionate frameworks before full regulation is enacted. \n\n_Why this matters:_ _Early actions increase transparency, guide market behaviour and reduce risk prior to formal frameworks taking effect._\n\n### 7 Strengthen management of cross-border risks and unregulated providers\n\n*   Integrate guidance from the FATF, Financial Stability Board (FSB) and International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) into national regulatory and supervisory frameworks. \n*   Develop cooperation protocols for inspections and enforcement, including for providers outsourcing critical functions abroad. \n*   Assess risks from regulatory arbitrage and passporting and close enforcement gaps that could be exploited, especially by multi-function crypto intermediaries (MCIs). \n*   Issue official communications to inform consumers about market-related risks that may arise over time, for example, about the dangers of dealing with unregistered cryptoasset service providers.\n\n_Why this matters:_ _Cryptoassets operate globally; common standards and cooperative oversight reduce loopholes and prevent unregulated entities from evading supervision._\n\n### 8 Build structured and formalised peer-learning and cooperation channels\n\n*   Consider establishing or participating in supervisory colleges, taskforces and peer-learning networks for information exchange on cryptoasset regulation and supervision. \n*   Use study visits, secondments and technical peer support to accelerate knowledge transfer. \n*   Create secure forums for supervisors to share typologies and risk mitigation strategies.\n\n> Supervisory colleges for cryptoasset supervision\n> \n> A “crypto supervisory college” brings together home\u002Fhost supervisors of major cryptoasset service providers and issuers to coordinate oversight and conduct joint risk assessments, exchange information securely and prepare for coordination in a crisis. Additional members may include competent authorities for AML\u002FCFT, data protection and cybersecurity, as well as third-country authorities. \n\n_Why this matters:_ _Structured cooperation fosters practical learning, mutual trust and consistent supervisory approaches across jurisdictions._\n\n### 9 Engage international institutions and build shared knowledge infrastructure\n\n*   Collaborate with international and regional centres of expertise such as the World Bank, FATF-style regional bodies, Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and Basel Institute on Governance for training, research and other resources. \n*   Pool resources for joint studies, typologies and tool development. \n*   Contribute to international standard-setting and interoperability initiatives to enhance the quality of blockchain analytics and supervisory data.\n\n_Why this matters:_ _Global collaboration enhances consistency, strengthens intelligence-led oversight and ensures technology is harnessed responsibly for the public good._\n\n### 10 Recommended resources\n\nEssential texts for jurisdictions seeking to develop and enhance their cryptoasset regulation. Consider establishing a crypto knowledge hub for your authority or working group, where staff and members can contribute relevant articles, research, news and resources.\n\nPractical guidance:\n\n[AML\u002FCFT National Risk Assessment on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers: Guidance Manual](https:\u002F\u002Fopenknowledge.worldbank.org\u002Fentities\u002Fpublication\u002Fbb5a7475-ac52-4697-afdc-5f618a550623) (updated October 2025) and related [tool](https:\u002F\u002Fdocuments.worldbank.org\u002Fen\u002Fpublication\u002Fdocuments-reports\u002Fdocumentdetail\u002F099710107122245889) – The World Bank. _A practical tool and guidance to help countries assess money laundering and terrorist financing risks linked to virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers in line with FATF Recommendation 15._\n\n[Best Practices on Travel Rule Supervision](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.fatf-gafi.org\u002Fcontent\u002Fdam\u002Ffatf-gafi\u002Frecommendations\u002FBest-Practices-Travel-Rule-Supervision.pdf) – Financial Action Task Force (FATF). _A set of good practices to help jurisdictions supervise and implement the FATF Travel Rule to enhance payment transparency and mitigate money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks._\n\n[Guidelines on supervisory practices to prevent and detect market abuse under MiCA](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.esma.europa.eu\u002Fdocument\u002Fguidelines-supervisory-practices-prevent-and-detect-market-abuse-under-mica) – European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). _Guidelines to promote consistent and effective supervisory practices under MiCA for preventing and detecting market abuse in cryptoassets, including insider dealing, unlawful disclosure of inside information and market manipulation._\n\nTrends and progress:\n\n[Thematic Review on FSB Global Regulatory Framework for Crypto-asset Activities](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.fsb.org\u002F2025\u002F10\u002Fthematic-review-on-fsb-global-regulatory-framework-for-crypto-asset-activities\u002F) – Financial Stability Board (FSB). _A review of global progress and remaining gaps in implementing the FSB’s 2023 regulatory framework for cryptoasset activities and stablecoins, with recommendations to strengthen consistent and resilient regulation._\n\n[Thematic Review Assessing the Implementation of IOSCO Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.iosco.org\u002Flibrary\u002Fpubdocs\u002Fpdf\u002FIOSCOPD801.pdf) – International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). _An assessment of how selected jurisdictions are implementing IOSCO’s 18 policy recommendations for regulating crypto and digital assets to support market integrity and investor protection._\n\n[Targeted Update on Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.fatf-gafi.org\u002Fcontent\u002Fdam\u002Ffatf-gafi\u002Frecommendations\u002F2025-Targeted-Upate-VA-VASPs.pdf.coredownload.pdf) – Financial Action Task Force (FATF). _An update on progress and continuing challenges in implementing FATF Recommendation 15 for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, including insights on emerging risks._\n\n[Advancing in tandem – results of the 2024 BIS Survey on Central Bank Digital Currencies and Crypto](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bis.org\u002Fpubl\u002Fbppdf\u002Fbispap159.htm) - Bank for International Settlements (BIS). _A summary of the 2024 BIS survey showing how central banks are advancing work on retail and wholesale CBDCs alongside growing regulation of stablecoins, rising use of cryptoassets and increasing interest in tokenisation._","2025-11-25","designing-robust-cryptoasset-frameworks-practical-takeaways-from-international-regulators-and-supervisors-2880","Designing robust cryptoasset frameworks: Practical takeaways from international regulators and supervisors","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fe78a30fa-3c74-4812-b35e-27eaa2f2cc3a?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[117,14],[119],[],2880,[117,20],[119],[],[],[196,24],[],"2025-12-02T11:01:41.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fdesigning-robust-cryptoasset-frameworks-practical-takeaways-from-international-regulators-and-supervisors-2880",{"id":279,"body":280,"status":6,"type":110,"date":281,"slug":282,"title":283,"image":284,"countries":285,"topic":286,"activity":287,"tags":288,"nid":289,"topics":290,"activities":291,"authors":292,"images":293,"websites":22,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":294,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":295,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":254,"content":296,"link":297},10582,"_A breakout session at the [9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002F9crc) focused on blockchain intelligence standards and interoperability – an issue that is becoming ever more critical for all who seek to prevent and combat the illicit use of virtual assets for financial crime._\n\n_Breakout leader [Bernhard Haslhofer](https:\u002F\u002Fbernhardhaslhofer.info\u002F) of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna explains the challenge below, and why the breakout represents a promising step towards the co-development of open standards in this domain._\n\nThe absence of standardisation and interoperability among blockchain intelligence tools has emerged as a critical challenge for all stakeholders working on preventing and countering financial crime.\n\nIncompatibilities manifest across multiple dimensions: data formats vary between platforms, identical concepts are described using different terminologies, computational methods such as address clustering follow divergent approaches, and user interfaces lack consistency.\n\nConsequently, problems include:\n\n*   Investigators work with isolated tool ecosystems with no systematic mechanisms for connecting investigations across platforms. This hinders inter-agency and cross-border cooperation.\n*   Prosecutors face problems demonstrating the reliability, admissibility and validity of blockchain evidence in court, in the absence of court-proof forensic procedures and standardised methods (in contrast to DNA analysis, for example).\n*   Judges in court proceedings involving blockchain intelligence currently rely on case-by-case testimonies from tool providers or expert witnesses. This creates resource-intensive judicial processes and lacks consistent interpretation across cases.\n*   Regulators and supervisors for anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML\u002FCFT) use inconsistent blockchain intelligence methodologies and typologies to monitor for suspicious transaction patterns and conduct risk profiling.\n*   Training and certification are also at stake. The field lacks independent qualification standards, allowing unqualified practitioners to operate in the field and undermining professional credibility across the domain.\n\nThis situation reflects a typical pattern in emerging technology domains. Historical parallels exist across industries. For example, electrical systems evolved from incompatible regional standards to interoperable networks through adapter technology. Word processing software transitioned from proprietary formats to systems supporting cross-platform document exchange, without capitalising on the strengths of individual tools.\n\nAs blockchain intelligence transitions from an emerging field to an established professional domain, adopting similar standardisation approaches becomes necessary to ensure long-term viability and effectiveness.\n\n### A promising step towards collaboration\n\nAt the 2025 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets organised by Europol, the Basel Institute on Governance and UNODC, we convened a workshop on creating harmonised standards for blockchain intelligence. The session assembled expertise from multiple domains: existing standardisation initiatives by INTERPOL and the [Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gcffc.org\u002F), legal scholarship and practice, and operational perspectives from both analytics providers and cryptocurrency exchanges.\n\nIn addition to participants from legal and academic backgrounds, we had strong industry representation including blockchain analytics firms and cryptoasset exchanges. This ensured technical feasibility considerations informed the discussion.\n\nThe workshop addressed four critical components:\n\n*   Defining the technical scope by identifying specific components and processes requiring standardisation across blockchain intelligence tools and workflows.\n*   Outlining the legal and regulatory framework, including jurisdictional considerations, data handling protocols and compliance requirements.\n*   Mapping stakeholders whose participation is essential for standard adoption and implementation.\n*   Developing a concrete implementation pathway from initial agreement through pilot implementation to deployed, operational and open standards.\n\n### Technical scope\n\nThe discussion identified interoperability challenges across multiple technical layers. Immediate opportunities include:\n\n*   standardised data formats for attribution tags enabling third-party dataset integration;\n*   unified terminologies to eliminate semantic conflicts across platforms; and\n*   standardised investigation formats allowing transaction graph sharing without exposing proprietary attribution data.\n\nThese standards would provide direct operational benefits while respecting competitive boundaries between tool providers. For criminal prosecutions or asset recovery proceedings, they would also support the documentation of attribution tag provenance with a clear chain of custody and evidence classification.\n\nAddress clustering on UTXO chains such as Bitcoin presents greater complexity. Applied computational methods such as address clustering must provide transparent justification for grouping addresses into single entities. Yet experts noted significant variation in clustering results across tools and limited external verification capabilities. Providers meanwhile emphasised that computational methods constitute intellectual property, though accessible for regulatory scrutiny.\n\nParticipants agreed that initial standardisation efforts should prioritise readily implementable solutions, with any framework accounting for economic incentives that protect proprietary intelligence from competitors.\n\n> ### What would standards look like?\n> \n> Open standards for blockchain intelligence would be technical in nature but practical in impact. Examples of successful open standards in other domains include:\n> \n> *   [IETF RFC standards](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ietf.org\u002Fprocess\u002Frfcs\u002F) describing internet technologies, protocols, and procedures\n> *   [W3C Web Standards](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.w3.org\u002Fstandards) ensuring a consistent and harmonious digitally connected world. They are implemented in browsers, blogs, search engines, and other software that power our experience on the web.\n> *   [STIX and TAXII](https:\u002F\u002Foasis-open.github.io\u002Fcti-documentation\u002F) are industry standards for sharing cyber threat intelligence.\n\n### Stakeholder participation and incentives\n\nThe successful development and implementation of standards require engagement from at least three stakeholder groups:\n\n*   Blockchain intelligence providers must contribute to the standardisation process and implement them within their platforms.\n*   User communities, including law enforcement agencies, financial regulators, cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions, must articulate operational needs and validation criteria.\n*   Technical experts provide methodological guidance to ensure standards are robust, implementable, and account for current capabilities as well as future scalability.\n\nIncentive structures differ across stakeholders. Tool providers benefit from meeting expressed user requirements. Establishing technically grounded standards through bottom-up consensus would also pre-empt potentially impractical top-down regulatory mandates.\n\nUsers gain operational autonomy and reduced vendor lock-in. This enables investigative continuity across platforms and organisational flexibility in tool selection, as well as enhanced reliability and sharing of blockchain intelligence data.\n\n### Next steps and learn more\n\nParticipants agreed that continued discussion must translate into concrete action, prioritising readily implementable solutions while considering incentive structures across all stakeholder groups. Follow-up steps will be announced in due course. Meanwhile:\n\n*   See the joint press release from the [9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fnews\u002Fglobal-experts-advance-joint-fight-against-crypto-enabled-crime), including links to recordings from public sessions.\n*   Read a Q&A with Vincent Danjean, Head of INTERPOL’s Cyberspace and New Technologies Laboratory, on efforts to enhance the [quality of blockchain intelligence](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fsmarter-blockchain-investigations-insights-interpol).\n*   Learn more about the [concept and use of blockchain intelligence](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fblog\u002Fsetting-global-standards-blockchain-intelligence-idea-reality) and why professional standards are needed.\n*   Need the basics? Check out the Basel Institute's [introductory courses on blockchain: crypto investigation and AML compliance](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcrypto-aml-training).","2025-11-24","developing-blockchain-intelligence-standards-and-interoperability-a-critical-need-to-fight-financial-crime-in-the-digital-age-2879","Developing blockchain intelligence standards and interoperability: a critical need to fight financial crime in the digital age","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F0abcdf39-2cbe-462b-a1b2-74fbe836dc7c?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[14],[119,172],[],2879,[20],[119,172],[],[],[],"2025-11-24T11:01:40.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fdeveloping-blockchain-intelligence-standards-and-interoperability-a-critical-need-to-fight-financial-crime-in-the-digital-age-2879",{"id":299,"body":300,"status":6,"type":10,"date":301,"slug":302,"title":303,"image":304,"countries":305,"topic":306,"activity":309,"tags":310,"nid":311,"topics":312,"activities":314,"authors":315,"images":316,"websites":22,"area":22,"programme":22,"language":101,"translations":317,"translation_of":22,"user_created":41,"date_created":318,"user_updated":42,"date_updated":254,"content":319,"link":320},10581,"We are pleased to announce the launch of a special crowdfunding campaign on the day of what would have been Gretta Fenner’s 50th birthday.\n\nThe campaign supports the Gretta Fenner Scholarship Fund, which enables talented individuals from lower-income backgrounds to access our advanced anti-corruption programmes.\n\nYou can [visit and share the campaign page here](https:\u002F\u002Fwhydonate.com\u002Ffundraising\u002Fgretta-fenner-scholarship-fund).\n\n### Gretta’s commitment to education and integrity\n\nOur long-serving and inspiring leader of two decades, [Gretta Fenner](https:\u002F\u002Fgretta.baselgovernance.org\u002F), understood the value and power of education. She invested boldly on behalf of the Basel Institute in [Basel STUDY](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fstudy) – academic programmes with the University of Basel – to help build tomorrow’s leaders in the fight against corruption and financial crime.\n\nGretta was inspired by the people she met in every corner of the world and in every profession during her famously whirlwind travels. She recognised the potential in individuals who showed initiative, talent and the inner fire to pursue impactful careers strengthening governance and transparency and combating corruption and financial crime.\n\nShe wanted to open the door to meaningful education and lifelong learning beyond school or university, beyond short courses, videos and slides.\n\n### Investing in future leaders\n\nAll of us at the Basel Institute share this belief. Each of us can tell a story of how education, peer networks and continuous learning have shaped our careers and opened new opportunities.\n\nThis is why we are asking for your support for the Scholarship Fund named in Gretta’s honour. \n\nThe [Scholarship Fund](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fstudy\u002Fscholarship) supports applicants from lower-income backgrounds who show a strong commitment to anti-corruption, transparency and good governance in their fields or communities. All funds raised go towards these students' tuition fees and, in some cases, travel to Basel for in-person course launch and closing events.\n\n### The Fund’s impact\n\nOne Scholarship recipient starting our first anti-corruption course spoke of his determination to _“…resolve anti-corruption challenges from an African perspective”_, while another shared how _“this prestigious study programme… offers a forum to learn from professionals who are influencing the global conversation on anti-corruption.”_\n\nShe acknowledged:\n\n> _“This educational journey would not have been possible without the support of the Gretta Fenner Scholarship Fund.”_\n\n### How to support\n\nIf education or the generosity of others have ever shaped your life, please consider giving – or inviting others to give – before the year ends.\n\nWith a target of CHF 100,000, we aim to fund up to 20 scholarships in 2026 and help advance Gretta’s vision for global peace, stability and sustainability.\n\nTo donate or share the campaign with your networks, please visit the [Gretta Fenner Scholarship Fund platform](https:\u002F\u002Fwhydonate.com\u002Ffundraising\u002Fgretta-fenner-scholarship-fund).","2025-11-22","launch-of-the-gretta-fenner-scholarship-fund-campaign-changing-lives-through-education-2875","Launch of the Gretta Fenner Scholarship Fund campaign: Changing lives through education","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F12330f9e-9b30-45fa-8526-a88cc7e84302?width=1000&height=650&format=webp&quality=80",[],[14,307,308],"Prevention"," Research and Innovation",[142,17,172],[],2875,[20,313],"Prevention Research and Innovation",[142,17,172],[],[],[],"2025-11-21T17:01:43.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Flaunch-of-the-gretta-fenner-scholarship-fund-campaign-changing-lives-through-education-2875",{"left":322,"top":322,"width":323,"height":323,"rotate":322,"vFlip":324,"hFlip":324,"body":325},0,20,false,"\u003Cpath fill=\"currentColor\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M17 10a.75.75 0 0 1-.75.75H5.612l4.158 3.96a.75.75 0 1 1-1.04 1.08l-5.5-5.25a.75.75 0 0 1 0-1.08l5.5-5.25a.75.75 0 1 1 1.04 1.08L5.612 9.25H16.25A.75.75 0 0 1 17 10\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\u002F>",1780676498548]