Luxembourg: Crypto companies are high risk of money laundering
In its national risk assessment (NRA) for 2025, Luxembourg has classified providers of services for virtual assets (VASP) as a company with a high risk of money laundering and expressed its concern about the susceptibility of the crypto industry for financial crime.
Dem Message According to the risk level of vasps is classified as “high”. The reason for this are, for example, factors such as transaction volume, customer range, sales channels, legal structures and the international reach of the business.
In its 2020 report, the NRB described the NRB as a new risk after “a detailed assessment of the ML risks associated with virtual assets”. This was followed by a report by the NRB from 2022, in which “the risks associated with crypto assets and virtual currencies were classified as very high”, among other things because they are internet-based and cross-border.
Crypto regulation of the EU in development
The European Union, whose founding members also belongs to Luxembourg, is working on the regulation of the cryptocurrency industry. The framework is an important part of these efforts Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)that is intended to standardize the regulation of cryptocurrencies in all 27 EU member states.
Since January, providers of cryptocurrency services have started to acquire licenses in order to be legally active in the EU. In May led The cryptocurrency exchange crawl into the regulated derivate trade, and crypto.com secured a license with which the company can do that too.
Mica also sets a number of new requirements for stable coins. The stable coin emittent behind the USDT (USDT), Tether, refusesto comply with the new rules and was on the EU platforms of Crypto.com, Coinbase and the leading crypto exchange Binance denoted.
Money laundering with cryptocurrencies
Since the acceptance and the role of Cryptocurrencies In the financial ecosystem overall, their popularity in money laundering increases. At the beginning of this month, the police arrested 12 people in Hong Kong, who in a cross -border money laundering system involved goods that used cryptocurrencies and over 500 false accounts. The equivalent of $ 15 million was washed.
According to this month, the European law enforcement agencies have 17 suspects of a “mafia crypto bank” arrestedwho have probably washed over 21 million euros in cryptocurrencies for criminal organizations in the Middle East and in China. In the course of the procedure, objects worth 4.5 million euros were confiscated, including cash, cryptocurrencies, 18 vehicles, four shotguns and several electronic devices.
