Legal challenges of digital currencies with an approach to money laundering

Money laundering has been identified as a phenomenon that endangers economic stability around the world. Criminals in this area target the economic system with financial criminal activities such as drug trafficking, terrorism financing and tax evasion. The development of crypto-currency technologies, along with its benefits, has become a disruptive technology that has created new challenges for government national security because this technology can provide opportunities for terrorist groups and organized crime. Since its emergence in 2009, the use of Bitcoin has increased exponentially around the world, but due to the lack of regulatory authority, it was quickly used to finance terrorism and money laundering activities. Countries have adopted and implemented various regulations to ban or license the use of Bitcoin, which have not been able to achieve a suitable result until today. In this article, with a descriptive-analytical method, we will seek to explain a process that will be able to resolve the legal challenges created due to the use of digital currencies, and in this regard, the consensus of governments in standardizing and harmonizing their laws regarding currency management. Digital services and the creation of a regulatory authority will be examined.