Trump’s planned crackdown on cartels could hurt crypto

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In a move that is sure to be quite controversial, it appears U.S. President Donald Trump is considering labeling Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. Specifically, the entire cartels, or various factions of the cartels, would be “foreign terrorist organizations”, or FTOs, according to a Breitbart report.

While it is not certain whether the decision will be made, or when, the truth is that this could have massive ramifications for the cryptocurrency sector. This comes at a time when more corporations are interested in blockchain than ever, and cryptocurrency regulation is still unclear.

The president of the United States has made controversial comments regarding Mexicans in general for years now, even from before his presidential campaign began. He has made it clear that he believes that immigrants from Mexico are often responsible for crime within the United States, and blames the border for the amount of drugs that enter the country. Of course, many have attempted to point out to Trump that most drugs come through ports of entry. Recently, a massive $77 million cocaine bust was made at Newark at a port, as well.

Trump has made the concept of a “wall” central to his campaign, even forcing a government shutdown. Many would agree that his tactics are not currently working, as there is no concrete progress on any border wall of any kind. In fact, prototypes of the wall were recently destroyed.

So how does this affect crypto?

Mexican cartels are extremely complicated organizations, and their influence and network has actually led to real scandals within traditional finance. For those who might not remember, HSBC was actually involved in a money laundering scandal involving Mexican cartels, and was forced to pay a fine as a result. If Mexican cartels are labeled as FTOs, the anti-money laundering (AML) laws will certainly affect the cryptocurrency markets. LexisNexis has already documented that AML laws currently affect productivity to a significant degree.

While it is impossible to know exact details about the Mexican cartels, it is well known that cartels utilize cryptocurrency as a way to launder their drug profits. This is due to the fact that privacy coins can be utilized, and because massive amounts of money can be moved with minimal transaction fees, compared to banks, for example. It is easy to see how if Mexican cartels were label terrorist organizations, then the cryptocurrency exchanges that they use to launder their profits might have an issue when it comes to their own relationship with traditional financial institutions. This could certainly affect the overall public perception, institutional money flow, and legitimacy of the entire cryptocurrency sector.