The NFT road to CYPHERPUNK 2027

[professor rat]

Esteban Castaño, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency analytics firm TRM Labs, told Forbes in February that concerns about money laundering in NFTs are legitimate. “We have already seen nation states move assets into NFTs and move them back out. So it's not a bogeyman–it's real. It's happening.” He says people who commit financial crimes like hacks, ransomware attacks and selling stolen credit cards can take the proceeds and move them into NFTs to hide or launder the funds.

In February, Castaño said the risk of money laundering with NFTs was “small today, with a lot of potential to grow.” Chainalysis, a New York-based crypto analytics company, estimated that illicitly obtained funds–for example, money gotten through scams–that later moved into NFTs totaled $1.4 million in the last quarter of 2021.

OpenSea, the dominant NFT marketplace that facilitates about $3 billion in monthly transactions, doesn’t currently verify customers’ identities through the “know your customer” (KYC) checks that are required in banking and other financial services. A spokesperson for OpenSea didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. . . ."

FORBES article