A recent Australian study revealed that 44% of the world’s bitcoin transactions are used in illegal activities, stating that one out of four transactions involve suspicious activity.
This research was conducted by Sean Foley of the University of Sydney, Jonathan R. Karlsen of the University of Technology Sydney, and Talis J. Putnins of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, according to Dutch website The Next Web (TNW).
According to the Dutch website, the researchers said that about $72bn of illegal activities per year involve bitcoin, which nears the scale of the US and European illegal drug markets.
The researchers explained that approximately a quarter of bitcoin users andhalf of bitcoin transactions are linked to illegal activity.
The researchers used two forms of data analysis algorithms, specifically detection-controlled estimation and network clustering, in order to come up with the findings.
The study stressed that cryptocurrencies have many potential benefits, including that they are a faster, more efficient settlement, but the regulatory concerns focus on their use in illegal trade such as drugs, hacks, thefts, illegal pornography, and even murder-for-hire, financing of terrorism, and money laundering.
Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system that
started circulating in 2009 and recently became the most prominent of several fledgling digital currencies, according to Reuters.
The Central Bank of Egypt has issued several warnings against dealing in virtual currencies, especially the bitcoin.
An official fatwa by Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam was announced in January forbidding and banning the trade, purchase, or sale of bitcoins in Egypt.
