Crypto is used much less than fiat currencies for criminal purposes, according to the key findings of a recent report by Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation. This is because “a range of constraints are related to the use of cryptocurrencies, with high volatility likely a major factor in criminals’ reluctance to use cryptocurrencies for long-term investments”, says the report.
The Europol report, titled “Cryptocurrencies: Tracing the Evolution of Criminal Finances”, states, “Research agrees that the proportion of cryptocurrency use associated with illicit activities compared to legitimate use decreased over time while the absolute amount has continued to increase. The illicit use of cryptocurrencies is predominantly associated with money laundering purposes, the (online) trade of illicit goods and services, and fraud.”
Meanwhile, the global crypto market has turned bearish yet again as indicated by the fall in prices of almost all major cryptocurrencies. The global crypto market cap at 8.25 am declined by 2.95 per cent at $1.67 trillion. The trading volume too declined by 5.36 per cent at $55.66 billion, as per Coinmarketcap data.
Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s oldest cryptocurrency, saw its prices decline by 2.74 per cent at $36,979.54. “An oversold signal in traditional speculative markets may indicate a near-term positive for crypto prices due to the increased correlation,” says Gaurav Dahake, CEO and founder, Bitbns.
Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest crypto by market capitalisation, saw its prices decline by 2.47 per cent at $2,516.38.
Among other major coins, Cardano (ADA) was down by 3.73 per cent at $1.02. Algorand (ALGO), which is known as the Ethereum killer, was down by 4.77 per cent at $0.9173; its market cap now stands at $5,997,456,625. Binance Coin (BNB) was down by 4.27 per cent at $369.19, while Solana (SOL) was down by 4.42 per cent at $90.85 and Polkadot (DOT) was also down by 5.83 per cent at $17.48.
Today’s top gainer was CryptoTycoon (CTT), which is up by 203.96 per cent at $12.57. The top loser was AnonToken (ANT), which is down by 100 per cent at $0.000000000000001633.
Meme Coins And DeFi
Dogecoin (DOGE) was down by 3.48 per cent at $0.1377. Its volume to market cap ratio stands at 0.02111. Rival Shiba Inu (SHIB) was also down by 5.61 per cent at $0.00002048.
Dogelon Mars (ELON) was trading with a loss of 6.83 per cent at $0.0000008368. Floki Inu (FLOKI) was, however, down by 6.41 per cent at $0.00003724, while Samoyed Coin (SAMO) crashed by 15.66 per cent at $0.02042.
In the DeFi segment, YFI (yearn.finance) was trading with a gain of 5.31 per cent at $23,102.95. Terra (LUNA) was down by 10.56 per cent at $44.59, Avalanche (AVAX) was down by 7.97 per cent at $65.31, Uniswap (UNI) was down by 4.95 per cent at $10.49, while Aave (AAVE) was down by 5.41 per cent at $143.64.
