Latin America's Crypto Boom Fuels Cartel Money Laundering
The rise of cryptocurrency adoption in Latin America has had an unintended consequence: it has enabled criminal organizations to expand their illicit activities.
According to Dialogo Americas, these groups have turned to mining and other cryptocurrency investments to launder their illicit earnings, making it difficult to track the origin of their funds.
Recent operations by Mexican and Brazilian police have dismantled mining complexes allegedly operated by the Brazilian Comando Vermelho and the Mexican Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, which have been linked to cryptocurrency money laundering.
Álvaro Marques, a former Brazilian Federal Police agent, explained that the advantage of mining is that cryptocurrencies obtained through this process have a technical origin that can be associated with a legitimate activity, making it harder to trace financial assets.
Latam-based criminal organizations have also built their own network of financial intermediaries to move cryptocurrencies in a 'legal way.' Operation Hidden Flow dismantled a network of six fintech companies that laundered over $5 billion for the Primeiro Comando da Capital between 2022 and 2025.