The anti-money laundering framework in the era of cryptocurrencies

Regulators have been chasing launders for years. The increasing use of crypto assets in illegal trades brought regulators to amend existing procedures and include the new virtual entries. Based on a shared opinion that crypto-assets are here to stay, the purpose of this essay is to describe how the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive and its transposition into Italian law contribute to preventing money laundering practices using crypto assets. In the end, a comparative analysis of the crypto-exchange platforms has been carried out to study how different crypto-exchange platforms comply with the customer due diligence procedures laid down by regulators.