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Bitcoins are part of the crypto-actives pointed out by Tracfin. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration

Tracfin, the department of the Ministry of the Economy in charge of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, issued a warning on Wednesday against the risks related to crypto-assets and the lack of transparency of associations.

According to Bruno Dalles, director of Tracfin, associations need to be more transparent and " not only in the fight against radicalization and financing of terrorism ".

The report "Trends and Analysis of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks in 2017-2018" recommends the creation of a centralized register, the annual obligation of accounting publication and the implementation of a legal audit. specific for any public funding of associations. In terms of terrorist financing, Tracfin monitors both " Daesh collectors " in Turkey and the financial operations of combatants, international fundraising networks and cultural associations in France.

Bruno Dalles explained that the risk of financing terrorism through crypto-active * existed, but had not yet been observed in practice. Of the 70,000 suspicious transaction reports received in 2017, 250 concerned the use of crypto-assets in money laundering, swindle and fraud transactions. This volume, up 44% from 2016, is however about to double in 2018.

Tracfin is counting on the EU's Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the Pact Act to regulate crypto-assets and has also called on public authorities to respond to the risks associated with payment and e-money service providers. The " new trends " do not, however, prevent " the maintenance of traditional methods " of fraud, fraud and money laundering, said Bruno Dalles during the presentation of the report.

He therefore reaffirmed the need " to alert and raise awareness among the general public and professionals ", particularly on the threats of organized fraud by bank channels (false transfer orders, scams on the foreign exchange market, diamonds, bitcoins, and energy saving certificates).

The construction, art and non-life insurance sectors must also be subject to increased vigilance according to Tracfin, as well as financial markets where price manipulation and whistle-blowing of insider trading are " insufficiently taken into account ".

Tracfin wants to strengthen its cooperation with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, which has recently issued several sanctions for course manipulation.

(With Afp)

* A crypto-asset is a digital asset that uses a computer network as well as a blockchain to validate and perform transactions between two or more entities. These assets do not require a "trusted third party", that is, an institution that verifies transactions and prevents any kind of fraud.