How crypto helps Latin America’s drug cartels do business

Crypto is being used for money laundering and to sell drugs online, posing a tough challenge for police fighting organised crime. — Reuters

BOGOTA/MEXICO CITY: For decades, drug traffickers carried their cash in suitcases to dodge banking controls, and the police. Today, many are also using virtual cryptocurrency wallets installed on their cellphones.

When the US Justice Department announced charges in April against four sons of jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the indictment said they had used “untraceable cryptocurrency” to launder the profits of their US fentanyl smuggling operation.