IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/ejlwec/v47y2019i2d10.1007_s10657-019-09609-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cryptocurrency or usury? Crime and alternative money laundering techniques

Author

Listed:
  • Raffaella Barone

    (Bocconi University)

  • Donato Masciandaro

    (Bocconi University)

Abstract

The article presents a novel dynamic setting to compare old—usury—and new—cryptocurrency—money laundering techniques and uses it for calibration to shed light on their relative role as an effective device for the criminal organizations to clean their illegal revenues. The specialness of the usury contract depends on its role in laundering illegal revenues originating from criminal activities and it is independent from the interest rate level, while the cryptocurrency money laundering is associated with an initial coin offering tool. The calibration compares the leverage effect on the overall capital owned by the criminal organizations triggered by the two money laundering techniques.

Suggested Citation

  • Raffaella Barone & Donato Masciandaro, 2019. "Cryptocurrency or usury? Crime and alternative money laundering techniques," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 233-254, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:47:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10657-019-09609-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10657-019-09609-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10657-019-09609-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10657-019-09609-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bester, Helmut, 1994. "The Role of Collateral in a Model of Debt Renegotiation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 26(1), pages 72-86, February.
    2. Donato Masciandaro, 2018. "Central Bank Digital Cash and Cryptocurrencies: Insights from a New Baumol–Friedman Demand for Money," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 51(4), pages 540-550, December.
    3. Olena Havrylchyk & Rafal Kierzenkowski, 2015. "Enhancing the financing of the real economy and financial stability in the United Kingdom," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1245, OECD Publishing.
    4. Villegas, Daniel J, 1982. "An Analysis of the Impact of Interest Rate Ceilings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 37(4), pages 941-954, September.
    5. Claudio Borio & Anna Zabai, 2018. "Unconventional monetary policies: a re-appraisal," Chapters, in: Peter Conti-Brown & Rosa M. Lastra (ed.), Research Handbook on Central Banking, chapter 20, pages 398-444, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Sabrina T. Howell & Marina Niessner & David Yermack, 2018. "Initial Coin Offerings: Financing Growth with Cryptocurrency Token Sales," NBER Working Papers 24774, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Brigitte Unger, 2007. "The Scale and Impacts of Money Laundering," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12690.
    8. Rudolph C. Blitz & Millard F. Long, 1965. "The Economics of Usury Regulation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(6), pages 608-608.
    9. Basu, Kaushik, 1984. "Implicit Interest Rates, Usury and Isolation in Backward Agriculture," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(2), pages 145-159, June.
    10. Mr. Wolfgang Bergthaler & Mr. Kenneth H Kang & Ms. Yan Liu & Mr. Dermot Monaghan, 2015. "Tackling Small and Medium Enterprise Problem Loans in Europe," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2015/004, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Donato Masciandaro, 1999. "Money Laundering: the Economics of Regulation," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 225-240, May.
    12. Raffaella Barone & Domenico Delle Side & Donato Masciandaro, 2018. "Drug trafficking, money laundering and the business cycle: Does secular stagnation include crime?," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(2), pages 409-426, May.
    13. Peter Temin & Hans‐Joachim Voth, 2008. "Interest Rate Restrictions in a Natural Experiment: Loan Allocation and the Change in the Usury Laws in 1714," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 743-758, April.
    14. Arvind Ashta & Laurence Attuel-Mendès & Zaka Ratsimalahelo, 2015. "Another “French paradox”: explaining why interest rates to microenterprises did not increase with the change in French usury legislation," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 479-509, December.
    15. Morten Linnemann Bech & Rodney Garratt, 2017. "Central bank cryptocurrencies," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    16. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2017_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Chiu, Jonathan & Koeppl, Thorsten V, 2017. "The economics of cryptocurrencies – bitcoin and beyond," Working Paper Series 6688, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    18. Claudio Borio & Boris Hofmann, 2017. "Is Monetary Policy Less Effective When Interest Rates Are Persistently Low?," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Jonathan Hambur & John Simon (ed.),Monetary Policy and Financial Stability in a World of Low Interest Rates, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    19. Jonathan Chiu & Thorsten V. Koeppl, 2017. "The Economics Of Cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin And Beyond," Working Paper 1389, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    20. Cifarelli, Michele D. & Masciandaro, Donato & Peccati, Lorenzo & Salsa, Sandro & Tagliani, Aldo, 2002. "Success or failure of a firm under different financing policies: A dynamic stochastic model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 471-482, February.
    21. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina, 2008. "Illegal finance, interest rates and bank lending: the missing supply side of usury," Global Business and Economics Review, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(3), pages 265-283.
    22. Raffaella Barone & Roy Cerqueti & Anna Quaranta, 2012. "Illegal finance and usurers behaviour," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 265-277, October.
    23. Lin William Cong & Zhiguo He, 2019. "Blockchain Disruption and Smart Contracts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1754-1797.
    24. Greer, Douglas F, 1977. "Usury Legislation and Market Structure: Reply," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1345-1347, September.
    25. Edward I. Altman & Brooks Brady & Andrea Resti & Andrea Sironi, 2005. "The Link between Default and Recovery Rates: Theory, Empirical Evidence, and Implications," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(6), pages 2203-2228, November.
    26. Sean Foley & Jonathan R Karlsen & Tālis J Putniņš, 2019. "Sex, Drugs, and Bitcoin: How Much Illegal Activity Is Financed through Cryptocurrencies?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1798-1853.
    27. Robins, Philip K, 1974. "The Effects of State Usury Ceilings on Single Family Homebuilding," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(1), pages 227-235, March.
    28. Ostas, James R, 1976. "Effects of Usury Ceilings in the Mortgage Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 31(3), pages 821-834, June.
    29. Donato Masciandaro, 2001. "In Offense of Usury Laws: Microfoundations of Illegal Credit Contracts," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 193-215, November.
    30. Orphanides, Athanasios, 2017. "Central Bank Policies and the Debt Trap," CEPR Discussion Papers 11834, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    31. Raffaella Barone & Donato Masciandaro, 2011. "Organized crime, money laundering and legal economy: theory and simulations," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 115-142, August.
    32. Gertler, Pavel & Hofmann, Boris, 2018. "Monetary facts revisited," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 154-170.
    33. Attilio Scaglione, 2014. "Estimating the size of the loan sharking market in Italy," Global Crime, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1-2), pages 77-92, April.
    34. Brucker, Eric, 1977. "Usury Legislation and Market Structure: An Alternative Approach: Comment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1339-1344, September.
    35. Huberman, Gur & Leshno, Jacob & Moallemi, Ciamac C., 2017. "Monopoly Without a Monopolist: An Economic Analysis of the Bitcoin Payment System," CEPR Discussion Papers 12322, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    36. Crafton, Steven M, 1980. "An Empirical Test of the Effect of Usury Laws," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 135-145, April.
    37. Hanna Halaburda & Miklos Sarvary & Guillaume Haeringer, 2022. "Beyond Bitcoin," Springer Books, Springer, edition 2, number 978-3-030-88931-9, February.
    38. Raffaella Barone, 2018. "The Italian CCB Reform and Usury Credit Risk: A Quantitative Analysis," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 463-496, November.
    39. Wolfgang Bergthaler & Kenneth H Kang & Yan Liu & Dermot Monaghan, 2015. "Tackling Small and Medium Enterprise Problem Loans in Europe," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 15/04, International Monetary Fund.
    40. Howard Bodenhorn, 2005. "Usury Ceilings, Relationships and Bank Lending Behavior: Evidence from Nineteenth Century," NBER Working Papers 11734, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bhimani, Alnoor & Hausken, Kjell & Arif, Sameen, 2022. "Do national development factors affect cryptocurrency adoption?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    2. Muneer M. Alshater & Mayank Joshipura & Rim El Khoury & Nohade Nasrallah, 2023. "Initial Coin Offerings: a Hybrid Empirical Review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 891-908, October.
    3. Donato Masciandaro, 2023. "Politicians, Trust, Financial Literacy and Financial Education: When Do Politicians Care?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 23208, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    4. Pavel Ciaian & Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & d'Artis Kancs, 2022. "Environmental-Social-Governance Preferences and the Holding of Crypto-Assets," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2022/07, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    5. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina & Giorgio Di Maio & Donato Masciandaro & Margherita Saraceno, 2020. "Are Bankers "Crying Wolf"? The Risk-Based Approach to Money-Laundering Regulation and its Effects," Working Papers 444, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2021.
    6. Carolina Guerini & Donato Masciandaro, 2023. "Financial Education between Market and State: Private Commitment, Conflicts of Interest and Public Certification," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 23213, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    7. Zoltan Ban & Jan Lansky & Stanislava Mildeova & Petr Tesar, 2019. "A Probe Survey of Bitcoin Transactions Through Analysis of Advertising in an On-Line Discussion Forum," Acta Informatica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(2), pages 112-131.
    8. Giulio Soana, 2022. "Regulating cryptocurrencies checkpoints: Fighting a trench war with cavalry?," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 51(1), February.
    9. Lucia Pellegrina & Giorgio Maio & Donato Masciandaro & Margherita Saraceno, 2023. "Are Bankers “Crying Wolf”? Type I, Type II Errors and Deterrence in Anti-Money Laundering: The Italian Case," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(2), pages 587-615, July.
    10. Giancarlo Giudici & Saman Adhami, 2019. "The impact of governance signals on ICO fundraising success," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(2), pages 283-312, June.
    11. Donato Masciandaro, 2023. "Politicians, Trust and Financial Literacy: When Do Politicians Care?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 23206, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    12. Pavel Ciaian & Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & d’Artis Kancs, 2022. "Environmental and Social Preferences and Investments in Crypto-Assets," JRC Research Reports JRC129919, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Carolina Guerini & Donato Masciandaro & Alessia Papini, 2024. "Literacy and Financial Education: Private Providers, Public Certification and Political Preferences," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 24223, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    14. Zijian Wang, 2023. "Money Laundering and the Privacy Design of Central Bank Digital Currency," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 604-632, December.
    15. Ali Acaravci & Seyfettin Artan & Pinar Hayaloglu & Sinan Erdogan, 2023. "Economic and Institutional Determinants of Corruption: The Case of Developed and Developing Countries," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 47(1), pages 207-231, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raffaella Barone & Donato Masciandaro, 2017. "Crime, Money Laundering, And Credit Markets: Can Usury Exist At The Zero Lower Bound?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1761, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    2. Donato Masciandaro, 2018. "Central Bank Digital Cash and Cryptocurrencies: Insights from a New Baumol–Friedman Demand for Money," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 51(4), pages 540-550, December.
    3. Donato Masciandaro, 2001. "In Offense of Usury Laws: Microfoundations of Illegal Credit Contracts," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 193-215, November.
    4. Emanuele Borgonovo & Stefano Caselli & Alessandra Cillo & Donato Masciandaro, 2018. "Between Cash, Deposit And Bitcoin: Would We Like A Central Bank Digital Currency? Money Demand And Experimental Economics," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1875, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    5. Emanuele Borgonovo & Stefano Caselli & Alessandra Cillo & Donato Masciandaro & Giovanno Rabitti, 2018. "Cryptocurrencies, central bank digital cash, traditional money: does privacy matter?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1895, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    6. Lucia dalla Pellegrina & Giorgio Di Maio & Donato Masciandaro & Margherita Saraceno, 2020. "Organized crime, suspicious transaction reporting and anti-money laundering regulation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(12), pages 1761-1775, December.
    7. Julien Prat & Benjamin Walter, 2021. "An Equilibrium Model of the Market for Bitcoin Mining," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(8), pages 2415-2452.
    8. Raphael Auer, 2019. "Beyond the doomsday economics of "proof-of-work" in cryptocurrencies," BIS Working Papers 765, Bank for International Settlements.
    9. Raffaella Barone & Donato Masciandaro & Friedrich Schneider, 2022. "Corruption and money laundering: You scratch my back, i’ll scratch yours," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 318-342, February.
    10. Brunnermeier, Markus & Abadi, Joseph, 2018. "Blockchain Economics," CEPR Discussion Papers 13420, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Howard Bodenhorn, 2005. "Usury Ceilings, Relationships and Bank Lending Behavior: Evidence from Nineteenth Century," NBER Working Papers 11734, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Borgonovo, Emanuele & Caselli, Stefano & Cillo, Alessandra & Masciandaro, Donato & Rabitti, Giovanni, 2021. "Money, privacy, anonymity: What do experiments tell us?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    13. Wolfgang Karl Härdle & Campbell R Harvey & Raphael C G Reule, 2020. "Understanding Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 181-208.
    14. Anil Savio Kavuri & Alistair Milne, 2019. "FinTech and the future of financial services: What are the research gaps?," CAMA Working Papers 2019-18, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    15. Raffaella Barone, 2018. "The Italian CCB Reform and Usury Credit Risk: A Quantitative Analysis," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 463-496, November.
    16. Schilling, Linda & Uhlig, Harald, 2019. "Some simple bitcoin economics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 16-26.
    17. William Boyes, 1982. "In defense of the downtrodden: Usury laws?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 269-276, January.
    18. Ye Li & Simon Mayer & Simon Mayer, 2021. "Money Creation in Decentralized Finance: A Dynamic Model of Stablecoin and Crypto Shadow Banking," CESifo Working Paper Series 9260, CESifo.
    19. Raffaella Barone & Roy Cerqueti & Anna Quaranta, 2012. "Illegal finance and usurers behaviour," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 265-277, October.
    20. Hanna Halaburda & Guillaume Haeringer & Joshua Gans & Neil Gandal, 2022. "The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 971-1013, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime; Money laundering; Cryptocurrency; Usury; Banking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:47:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10657-019-09609-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.