The battle against financial crime has entered the digital age, and America’s law enforcement agencies risk falling behind without the right tools. Crypto giant Coinbase says the solution lies in embracing the very technology criminals exploit. Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer of Coinbase, recently penned a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department, pushing for blockchain analytics, artificial intelligence, and modern monitoring systems to combat increasingly sophisticated money laundering schemes. The exchange responded to the Treasury’s request for comments on deterring illicit crypto activity.
Modern Problems Need Modern Solutions
Grewal advocates for regulatory exceptions under the Bank Secrecy Act that would allow companies to deploy AI and API-driven monitoring tools. He says that governance should guide these measures rather than having rigid and outdated structures. At present, companies hesitate to fully implement AI in their anti-money laundering efforts due to regulatory guidelines.
Grewal also wants Treasury to recognize decentralized IDs and zero-knowledge proofs as legitimate customer verification methods. Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, echoed these sentiments, urging Washington to mirror crypto exchanges by modernizing anti-money laundering frameworks with proven digital tools.
