Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news from the past week. In this issue, Brazilian police dismantle $9.7 billion crypto laundering rings, Brazil uses an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to detect tax fraud linked to cryptocurrency, and Latam’s neobank Nubank halts trading of its coin.
Operation Niflheim: Brazilian Authorities Crack Down on $9.7 Billion Crypto Money Laundering Rings
The Brazilian Federal Police organized an operation to dismantle three organizations linked to money laundering operations using crypto. The operation, called Niflheim, was carried out in collaboration with the Federal Revenue Service, Brazil’s tax watchdog, and involved the issuance of eight arrest warrants and 19 search and seizure orders in the cities of Caxias do Sul, Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, and Brasilia.
The Brazilian Federal Court also blocked $1.58 billion in funds stored in bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges. Several vehicles and properties were also seized.
The operation focused on cracking down on three organizations that collectively laundered $9.7 billion using crypto since the investigation started in 2021. Local media reported that the laundered funds were the product of different illicit activities, mainly drug trafficking and smuggling.
Brazilian Tax Watchdog Uses AI Tool to Identify Operations Linked to Over $180 Million in Crypto-Related Tax Fraud
Government agencies are increasingly incorporating tools that implement artificial intelligence (AI) to ease their tasks. The Federal Revenue Service, which is the Brazilian tax watchdog, has recently reported about the implementation of one of such tools focused on detecting illicit transactions involving crypto.
In a note released last week, the institution reported that the tool had been created in-house and included artificial intelligence algorithms and complex network analysis to facilitate the task of analyzing tax data. This allowed for the detection of illicit transactions and improved the productivity of probing activities.
The note presents two instances in which this tool helped detect the illegal use of cryptocurrency in transactions for over $180 million.
Latam’s Fintech Giant Nubank Ends Nucoin Trading
Nubank, one of Latam’s largest neobanks, has announced it will terminate the trading of nucoin, its in-house cryptocurrency. The institution, which announced it had reached over 100 million customers in May, communicated this movement was part of a reformulation of its internal rewards system in an email sent to its customers.
The email explains the bank will terminate trading in 15 days, and holders will be given two choices with this update. They can trade their nucoin for bitcoin or USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, until December 9 only if they have over 100 reais ($17.64) worth of the currency. Holders with less than that, or those who don’t complete the exchange before the deadline can keep these coins to collect reformulated rewards program’s future benefits.
Source: Bitcoin
