Investment Saal
Management
As Bitcoin Ownership is Not Anonymous, Illicit Use has Fallen _ Division
Larry Fink on Bitcoin’s Illicit Use
"Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world. That’: all it is. It's an
index of money laundering.”
— BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, October 13, 2017
= Because bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous, users’ real-world identities are ascertainable once the individual converts bitcoin to fiat currency.
= Digital intelligence companies continually scan the blockchain to identify suspicious transaction activity.
" The Blockchain Intelligence Group estimates that illegal transactions in bitcoin fell from ~50% of total volume in 2015 to ~20% in 2016, and represent “significantly less than that” today.
= As law enforcement has become better able to track bitcoin ransom, cybercriminals have begun to favor currencies that allow anonymity, such as Monero and Zcash, and even Ether.
Source: Investment Strategy Group, Blockchain Intelligence Group, https://www.cnbc.com/201 7/08/29/dark-web-finds-bitcoin-increasingly-more-of-a-problem-than-a-help-tries-other- rl digital-currencies.html.
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025674