Money Laundering via Cryptocurrencies in Marbella
Money laundering through the use of cryptocurrencies
Beyond the operational analysis of blockchain tracing and international police cooperation that we cover in our content on cybercrime and crypto-assets, money laundering through virtual currencies presents its own regulatory dimension — the status of crypto-asset service providers as obliged entities, circumstantial evidence adapted to the on-chain environment, and the specific regime for the confiscation of digital assets — that demands a differentiated legal approach. At RAKH ABOGADOS we combine knowledge of this constantly evolving regulatory framework with the technical expertise needed to handle both the defense of the person under investigation and the representation of the exchange platform itself before regulatory or criminal proceedings.
The prevention framework: Law 10/2010 and the Bank of Spain register
Since the reform introduced by Royal Decree-Law 7/2021, transposing the European Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, providers of services for the exchange of virtual currency for fiat currency and providers of custodian wallet services are treated as obliged entities for the purposes of Law 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This entails, among other obligations, prior registration with the register maintained by the Bank of Spain — conditional on demonstrating adequate prevention procedures and bodies and the commercial and professional integrity of those responsible — the duty to identify and exercise due diligence over customers, special scrutiny of unusual transactions lacking apparent economic justification, and reporting on the basis of suspicion to SEPBLAC (Spain's financial intelligence unit) of transactions raising suspicion of money laundering. Providing these services without the corresponding registration, or systematically breaching due diligence obligations, may give rise to liability both administrative, under the sanctioning regime of Law 10/2010 itself, and criminal, when such a breach significantly facilitates the commission of a money laundering offense.
The transition to the MiCA Regulation: from registration to licensing
Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets — known as MiCA — fully applicable since 30 December 2024, replaces the previous system of mere administrative registration with a far more demanding regime of authorization and prudential supervision, under the competence of the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (Spain's securities regulator). Crypto-asset service providers must now obtain a specific license, subject to solvency, governance, and internal control requirements considerably stricter than those of the former Bank of Spain register, and which coexist with the anti-money laundering obligations already imposed by Law 10/2010. Denial of a license due to insufficient anti-money laundering control mechanisms is now an established supervisory practice, and exposes the affected entity to a dual front — regulatory and, where applicable, criminal — that requires a coordinated technical defense.
Circumstantial evidence of money laundering adapted to the on-chain environment
General case law on money laundering, built on indicators such as unjustified increases in wealth or the use of shell companies, finds its specific translation in the crypto ecosystem: the use of mixers or mixing services to break the on-chain traceability of funds; the structuring of a single capital sum across multiple low-value wallets to evade systematic reporting thresholds; the use of cross-chain bridges with the aim of hindering the tracking of funds between technically heterogeneous ecosystems; and the repeated conversion between different crypto-assets without apparent economic justification, beyond concealing the trail. The use of mixers is not unlawful per se, but constitutes an indicator of significant weight when combined with other objective elements pointing to the criminal origin of the funds, a matter we address with the support of expert blockchain-analysis tools to establish, conversely, the lawful traceability of our clients' assets.
Criminal liability of the exchange for breach of due diligence
When an exchange platform or custodian provider knowingly and systematically breaches its obligations to identify customers and report suspicious transactions, thereby facilitating the conversion or transfer of funds of criminal origin, its criminal liability arises as a participant in the money laundering offense committed by its users, and even the standalone criminal liability of the legal entity itself under Article 302 of the Criminal Code, when the obliged entity belongs to one of the professional categories subject to a reinforced duty of diligence. The existence of a specific anti-money laundering compliance program — a policy and procedures manual, risk analysis, staff training, a channel for reporting suspicious transactions — constitutes, here too, the principal preventive and defensive tool against this liability.
Confiscation of crypto-assets: location, custody, and realization
The general confiscation regime under Articles 127 to 127 octies of the Criminal Code is fully applicable to crypto-assets as proceeds, instruments, or profits of an offense, with the technical particularity that their seizure requires access to the private keys that allow them to be disposed of. When the funds are held on a regulated exchange subject to Spanish or European regulation, intervention is relatively straightforward through a direct judicial request to the platform. The difficulty multiplies when the crypto-assets are held in self-custody wallets, with no intermediary to whom the request can be directed: in such cases, locating and seizing the private keys requires specific technological investigative measures — entry and search, seizure of devices, computer forensic analysis — carried out with the procedural safeguards required by the Criminal Procedure Act (Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal). Once seized, crypto-assets are subject to specialized technical custody while the proceedings are pending, and when their confiscation is not possible because they fall outside the material reach of Spanish jurisdiction, Article 127 of the Criminal Code allows confiscation of equivalent value to be ordered against other assets of the person responsible.
Our defense strategy
- Establishing lawful traceability: we use expert blockchain-analysis tools to reconstruct the actual origin and destination of the funds and to dismantle the presumption of suspicion arising from the mere use of privacy services.
- Defense of the exchange or service provider: we analyze effective compliance with due diligence and SEPBLAC reporting obligations, and coordinate the defense against both regulatory and criminal proceedings.
- Proportionality review of confiscation: we verify the causal connection between the seized crypto-assets and the criminal activity under investigation, preventing undue extensions of confiscation to assets of lawful origin.
- Protection of private keys: we advise on the procedural safeguards required before any handover or seizure of devices and access keys to digital wallets.
Are you facing an investigation for money laundering linked to the use of cryptocurrencies, or do you represent an exchange platform subject to a regulatory or criminal proceeding? The regulatory framework in this area is evolving rapidly and demands specialized, up-to-date advice. At RAKH ABOGADOS we combine legal rigor and technical blockchain expertise to defend your interests throughout Spain.
Frequently asked questions, glossary and comparisons
Frequently asked questions
Does my cryptocurrency exchange platform need a license to operate in Spain?
See answer in Frequently Asked Questions →Glossary
Mixers (crypto-asset mixing services)
Services that break the traceability of cryptocurrency transactions by automatically distributing funds among random addresses. Their use is not unlawful per se, but constitutes a significant indicator in a money laundering investigation when combined with other elements.
See in the Glossary →