The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that the IRS and FinCEN work together to regulate crypto ATMs.
GAO also blames crypto ATMs for the rise in illegal human and drug trafficking. A report by the agency on Monday suggested that crypto ATMs were also partially responsible for these activities. This is because these devices are more difficult to track than transactions on crypto trading platforms and ATMs are less regulated.
The report suggested that as the crypto-asset market grows, they expect an increase in the use of crypto ATMs for illegal activities and therefore the IRS and FinCEN should work together on strict regulation of these ATMs.
GAO’s findings that crypto-backed crime is on the rise contrast with Chainalysis’s new report, which found that crypto crimes hit an all-time low as a percentage of all blockchain transactions in 2021, despite increasing in volume. In other words, as crypto assets become more common, crypto crimes continue to rise, but growth in crypto transactions is outpacing illegal activity.