Hong Kong Customs and Excise Division is partnering with the College of Hong Kong to develop a digital instrument to trace cryptocurrency transactions in suspected cash laundering schemes.
On Thursday, Assistant Commissioner Mario Wong Ho-yin mentioned customs officers would increase collaboration with lecturers, regional finance professionals and regulation enforcement to counteract more and more advanced and borderless monetary crimes.
“These cash laundering threats are characterised by a transnational and borderless nature, and no single company can sort out this drawback alone,” Wong mentioned throughout a media briefing, in keeping with a report by the South China Morning Submit.
Per the report, the official declined to disclose additional particulars in regards to the instrument’s operation, citing the confidential nature of the division’s work.
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HK sees rise in crypto-related cash laundering instances
Between 2021 and Could 2025, Hong Kong customs recorded 39 main cash laundering instances, seven of which concerned cryptocurrencies. Most have been trade-based laundering operations disguising illicit funds as routine transactions.
One case concerned over 1,000 suspicious transactions price 1.8 billion Hong Kong {dollars} (round $229 million), spanning 5 corporations and 18 native financial institution accounts. Three people have been arrested, with two accused of shifting 760 million Hong Kong {dollars} by way of a crypto platform.
The division and college additionally hosted a three-day workshop this week, bringing collectively regulation enforcement and consulate employees from eight jurisdictions, together with China, India, Iran, New Zealand, Thailand and Singapore, to strengthen cross-border cooperation in combating digital monetary crimes.
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Crypto exec charged with laundering $530 million
Iurii Gugnin, founding father of crypto funds platform Evita Pay, was not too long ago arrested in New York and indicted on 22 federal fees for allegedly laundering over $530 million into the US from sanctioned Russian banks.
In response to the US Division of Justice (DOJ), Gugnin used stablecoin transactions to assist Russian shoppers tied to blacklisted establishments, together with Sberbank and VTB, entry restricted American applied sciences.
The DOJ claims the scheme ran from June 2023 to January 2025, with Gugnin accused of wire fraud, cash laundering and working an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise. If convicted, he faces the opportunity of life imprisonment.
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