Cybercriminals are taking full reward of the COVID-nineteen pandemic, which has forced life into a digital realm, by leveraging increased fear and uncertainty to steal money and wash it through the complex cryptocurrency ecosystem. Accordingly, the Joint Chiefs of Global Taxation Enforcement, known equally the J5, has ramped upwards its efforts by absorbing cybercriminals suspected of laundering millions of dollars in cryptocurrency, co-ordinate to a J5 articulation argument. The J5 also has been updating its Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism laws for cryptocurrencies in accordance with Financial Activeness Task Force standards, with Australian researchers having linked half of all yearly transactions in the $250 billion Bitcoin (BTC) market place to illegal activeness, co-ordinate to a new written report.

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The J5 is a multiagency coalition that includes authorities agencies from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland and the United States. It was formed in mid-2018 by the U.South. Internal Acquirement Service in response to a call to action from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for countries to do more than to tackle the enablers of cross-border tax and related crime past those individuals who have access to resources and professional enablers equally well as by organized crime groups.

Related: US Takes Regulatory Steps for Blockchain Applied science Adoption

The J5's get-go globally coordinated day of enforcement action against suspected offshore tax evasion and other related crimes was undertaken at the get-go of this year. The effort involved the sharing of testify and intelligence and information collection activities such equally search warrants, interviews and subpoenas.

Related: Upbeat Dutch Blockchain and Crypto Action Agenda

Sources: finder.com.au, abc.net.au, therift.european union, europarl.europa.eu, fintrac-canafe.gc.ca

*Effective June 1

Related: How Crypto Is Taxed in the United states: A Taxpayer's Dilemma

The new Canadian cryptocurrency AML/CTF laws

Canada's watchdog for financial crimes, the Financial Transactions and Reports Assay Center of Canada, will brainstorm regulating cryptocurrency companies as of June 1.

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Such companies with $10,000 Canadian dollars in crypto activities are required to register as a money service business and are also required to document the name, nascence date, address, telephone number and blazon of crypto transaction for whatsoever transaction over C$one,000. More details would exist required in case of transactions of C$10,000 and greater.

Rod Hsu, the chief operating officer of Interlapse Technologies Corp., stated in a private interview:

"Building consumer trust takes fourth dimension and this space has had its fair share of negative printing over the years. While regulation is adapting, by putting initial frameworks in place for businesses to operate within, this can help provide consumers with a level of comfort and security. Ultimately, consumers want to know they are protected and by having guidelines in place, businesses can be held accountable for their actions. While this is 1 facet of building consumer trust, it's a vital i given the nature of Bitcoin."

He as well added that with regulation "you volition run across smaller operators autumn off due to the regulatory requirements and operational overhead. This will lead to consolidation of virtual currency operators that can function within these regulatory frameworks. With these requirements as a prerequisite, this will help to filter out 'wing by night' operators." Hsu thinks regulation is a good affair for building consumer trust and encouraging mass adoption of Bitcoin.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed hither are the writer's alone and exercise not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Selva Ozelli, Esq., CPA, is an international tax attorney and certified public accountant who frequently writes near revenue enhancement, legal and accounting issues for Taxation Notes, Bloomberg BNA, other publications and the OECD.