According to a government report, crypto ATM regulations should be tightened

<p>The GAO report recommended that the IRS and FinCEN collaborate to tighten registration requirements for crypto kiosks, the increased use of which has been linked to increases in human and drug trafficking.</p> <p>The use of cryptocurrency payments to facilitate illegal human and drug trafficking is on the rise, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is blaming cryptocurrency kiosks.</p> <p>The GAO – a government agency that provides auditing and investigative services to Congress – highlighted in a new study released Monday that kiosks, also known as crypto ATMs, were partly responsible for this surge because the machines are less regulated than crypto exchanges and transactions are more difficult to trace.</p> <p>"As the crypto market expands, FBI officials said they expect to see an increase in the use of virtual currency kiosks for illicit purposes, including human and drug trafficking," according to the report.</p> <p>The IRS and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) should collaborate and take a firmer stance in regulating the kiosks, according to the agency.</p> <p>The report looked at the use of cryptocurrencies in global trafficking operations, as well as how US agencies such as the US Postal Service (USPS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are combating the rise in crypto-facilitated crime.</p> <p>The GAO also examined the challenges agencies face in combating crypto crime, concluding that a widespread lack of information, particularly about crypto kiosks (also known as crypto ATMs), was impeding law enforcement's ability to identify and stop criminals.</p> <p>The GAO's findings that crypto-enabled crime is on the rise contradict a new report from crypto research firm Chainalysis, which found that while crypto crime is on the rise in terms of volume, it reached an all-time low as a percentage of all blockchain transactions in 2021. In other words, as cryptocurrencies become more popular, crypto crime will increase, but growth