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The recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States has created both excitement and challenges as bad actors seek to capitalize on the hype for illicit profits. Marina Khaustova, COO of blockchain analytics firm Crystal, shared insights on the evolving landscape in an interview with Crypto Briefing.
The approval of the Bitcoin ETF has further accelerated demand for Crystal products, especially from established companies looking to ensure compliance when entering the cryptocurrency market.
“And there is currently no way for traditional financial companies to explain to their boards that they should not use digital currencies. Because it’s probably a scam. Not anymore,” Marina said in an interview at Paris Blockchain Week.
Marina noted that while there was a brief pause in activity from US customers during the cryptocurrency winter, demand in the APAC region continued to remain strong.
Serving clients for the past five years, Crystal provides analytics software that helps businesses understand and mitigate the risks associated with operating in the digital asset space.
“Every builder, every company operating in the digital asset space should be concerned about how protected they are from internal risks, how well their solutions are built, how well their security is built, and who they interact with.” explained.
Crystal continues to see growing demand from customers in APAC, and with the appointment of former Ripple executive Navin Gupta as CEO, Crystal is now even more capable of supporting customers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
“Having Navin Gupta join us has been an incredible experience for us as we have transformed from a startup to scale-up and now serving as an enterprise,” said Marina. She said, “I am so grateful that we are now sharing an experience like Naveen’s.”
When asked about the best jurisdiction for cryptocurrency businesses from a regulatory perspective, Marina highlighted the challenge of cryptocurrencies being a cross-border phenomenon. Initiatives such as Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation are seen as positive steps to simplify coordination within the region.
“The introduction of MiCA into general anti-money laundering efforts is very good, because it simplifies all these coordination within large territories consisting of several countries,” Marina explained.
Marina believes that a global standard for cryptocurrency regulation is likely to emerge in the future, but like the different approaches to regulating online gambling around the world, there will still be local peculiarities that need to be explored. She emphasized the importance of blockchain analytics companies sharing information on wrongdoers and collaborating to increase transparency in the sector.
Romance scams, also known as ‘pig butchers’, have become a serious concern in recent years. These emotional manipulation schemes often target vulnerable individuals and are carried out through human trafficking operations in countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia.
“It’s really bad. The worst part is that these romance scams are powered by buildings built in Myanmar and Cambodia. The people there are literally living in prison and they have to do this to scam people. So there is actually a lot of human trafficking involved at the same time,” Marina revealed.
For those interested in exploring the world of blockchain analytics, Crystal offers a free version of its software called Crystal Lite, designed specifically for Bitcoin analysis. The tool is popular among journalists and young researchers, and Crystal also offers the solution for free to university researchers.
To stay up to date on the latest developments in the blockchain analytics space, readers can follow Crystal’s Director of Blockchain Intelligence, Nick Smart, on LinkedIn. Nick Smart regularly shares insights on topics such as romance scams and other emerging trends.
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