The attractiveness of virtual currencies for criminal use is determined by the possibility to transfer large units of values anonymously and quickly across the borders, avoiding reporting procedures imposed by financial institutions in compliance with the anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

Around 90 representatives of the cybercrime units, financial investigation units, Financial Intelligence Units (FIU), prosecution services, competent authorities for judicial cooperation, Central Banks, as well as representatives of the private sector from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Turkey, Kosovo*  and Romania together with experts from the Council of Europe, Financial Action Task Force, FIU Luxembourg, FIU Poland, FIU Romania, OSCE, UNODC, etc. have gathered in Bucharest, Romania from 12 to 13 December to discuss money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/FT) risks associated with New Payment Methods (NPM), such as prepaid cards, mobile payments, Internet-based payment services, as well as virtual currencies. The aim is to stimulate discussion on implementing the risk-based AML/CFT regulations in this area, and enable government officials and law enforcement to analyse and detect the potential ML/FT threats and vulnerabilities involving NPM and virtual currencies.

• Agenda
• Press Release
• iPROCEEDS project webpage

^{*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.}