Money Launderers Beware 

Cryptocurrency Analyst and Financial Crimes Investigator, Lourdes Miranda joins us for episode 77 on LAB Radio. 

 

Lourdes’ expertise lies in her years working from a compliance and financial crimes angle. Her knowledge of the Bank Secrecy Act led her to a career in the intelligence community, primarily the CIA. She knows the ins and outs of how money launderers operate. So when she was approached to join, admittedly she didnt know much about cryptocurrencies. That didnt bother the Agency one bit. She told their cyber security teams, if they taught her how crypto worked, she’d show them how it was being used to launder illegal proceeds.

 

Lourdes speaks to and teaches both local and federal law enforcement communities across the country. She also consults banks and financial institutions. More recently Lourdes tells us about an interaction with a Bank and a Bitcoin ATM operator. The advice she gives seems obvious to me, but it just goes to show the Banks disparate view of this asset class.

 

We further discussed the future of the crypto and blockchain industry and how it will impact banks. Ultimately, Lourdes feels banks will end up going the route of the newspapers during the proliferation of internet. The small banks react the slowest and are most vulnerable, but also have an advantage the bigger banks don’t. They posses the agility big banks can’t. So if a Credit Union or small bank decides to take a proactive approach they might actually avoid extinction. Sadly, these institutions dont realize they’re eventually going to lose their customers to crypto exchanges as they add more services and products, with lower fees.

 

Lourdes and I also have differing opinions on whether cryptocurrency illegal activity will increase or decrease. Let’s just say, we agree to disagree, but we both might be right. You’ll just have to listen and give us your opinion.

 

Tweet your favorite quote and tag @CoinStructive @djkinkle & #LABradio

 

Further Reading and Resources

Lourdes C. Miranda, CAMS, CFE, Financial Crimes Investigator and Crytpocurrency Analyst at Miranda FinIntel Consulting,  | Email | LinkedIn 

Chicago's Queen of Crypto 

When I noticed the talented Hannah Rosenberg would be speaking at the Avantpay |19 conference, you have no idea how happy I became. I had recently visited Chicago at the end of August and I was able to sit down with Hannah and record an episode. Unfortunately, the recording had some technical issues and it was unusable. I wasn't going to let a second opportunity slip by. 

Hannah got started in crypto back in 2014 and is one of the most involved and passionate people in the industry. She is the Managing Director of the Blockchain Institute, the Lead Organizer of the B.O.B. meetup (Bitcoin and Open Blockchain),  an adjunct faculty member at UIC (University of Illinois Chicago) and the founder of Velas Commerce. 

Hannah was representing Velas Commerce at the Avantpay conference. So I asked her what she was hoping to get out of this event. She was really curious to hear the Cannabis Industries thoughts on crypto. Additionally, Hannah shares with us her take on the intersection of cannabis, crypto and payments. She also identifies why it is important to get out of the crypto bubble. As a full time crypto person, Hannah needs to remind herself that obvious solutions to her, are not obvious to others. 

For the rest of us that don't live in Hannah's bubble, we dig into what the Chicago seen is like. She starts with the B.O.B. meetup group and tells us how thankful she was to have pioneers like Brooke Mallers and Pamela Morgan. 

"I really see crypto as 'Power to the People' via technology." -Hannah Rosenberg

Hannah started out holding events and creating trustworthy information during the 2017 crypto rush. After one of her events a woman from her Alma Mater, UIC, reached out to her. They began talking and the next thing she knew, she was creating a curriculum. She loves teaching because she gets to emphasize the potential impact the technology has on the world.

Additionally, you'll hear topics like: 

• Crypto Commerce & Lightning Network
• Gresham's Law 
• Velas Commerce Crypto Payment Integrations
• What a world with crypto for her children will look like
• Her thoughts on the trajectory of the industry
• What she would change about the crypto industry

Tweet your favorite quote and tag @CoinStructive @djkinkle @hmichellerose & #LABradio

Further Reading and Resources

Hannah Rosenberg , Blockchain Institute, Managing Director | Twitter | LinkedIn 

The Blockchain Institute| Website | Twitter | LinkedIn 

Velas Commerce - | Website | Twitter |LinkedIn

B.O.B. Chicago Meetup - | Website | Meetup

Our guest on episode 74 of LAB Radio is InsureYourBit’s founder, Doug Moeller. Doug is passionate about providing crypto related insurance to individuals and entities who regularly use uninsured third party custodians as a regular part of their business. 

Stay in crypto long enough and you will eventually hear of or be a part of an exchange hack. US based residents who are used to traditional financial services, like banking, are familiar depositors insurance. They receive this as part of the banks agreement with the FDIC. However, the FDIC only insures one kind of deposit, US dollars. Many US based exchanges have FDIC insurance for their customers US dollar deposits, but what about all those crypto deposits?

This is where InsureYourBit comes in. Doug wants to see a world where users, on exchange platforms, are able to purchase their own insurance for their digital assets. 

Crypto on an exchange is not insured

Doug's passion for insurance comes from his experience of platform failure  in the crypto space, but also as a poker player on Full Tilt Poker. The similarities of this centralized failure to the crypto exchange failures is eerily synonymous. It also comes from a deep sense of wanting people to be able to protect their assets or provide for their loved ones.

The principles of insurance are to protect people and share risk. Currently, no one offers hot wallet insurance. Exchanges currently have war chests in case they are hacked. However, Doug believes the exchanges could better deploy that capital if it wasn't all tied up in an emergency fund. 

"Insurance is the oldest Coop" - Doug Moeller

In this episode we cover topics like: 

• How insurance works
• What it takes to launch an Insurance company
• Regulatory Frameworks
• Smart Contract Insurance
• The types of Crypto they plan to cover
• Insurance "Need vs. Want"

According to a recent survey by InsureYourBit, "64 % of people who hold their crypto outside of an exchange would be more likely to keep it there if there was a crypto insurance product available."

Lastly, the indemnity to the user will cover the total amount of crypto losses, let's say Bitcoin in this case.  If a trader wants to use and insure 10 bitcoins on X platform, once they start paying their premiums, they are covered in the event of an exchange hack. 

Hope you Enjoy!

Tweet your favorite quote and tag @CoinStructive @Insurabit and @DougFMoeller.

Further Reading and Resources

Doug Moeller, InsureYourBit Founder & CEO | Twitter | LinkedIn

InsureYourBit - | Website | Facebook | Twitter