CNN —The news last week of money laundering charges against crypto exchange Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, sent shockwaves through both financial markets and crypto consumers alike. But for those familiar with the history of modern money laundering, they’re hardly surprising. Over and again, everything from Manhattan high-rises to Malibu beachfronts to Midwest manufacturing plants have allegedly housed illicit wealth, easily and anonymously. But crypto was also, in many ways, the perfect tool for kleptocrats and criminals trying to dodge sanctions and duck investigators. Like banks, real estate and more before it, the best days of the crypto industry as a haven for money laundering may yet be behind it.

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Persons: Casey Michel, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, ”, Versha Sharma, Hamas’s Al, they’re, —, kleptocrats Organizations: CNN, Wall Street Journal, Binance, Hamas’s, ISIS, Patriot Locations: Washington, American, Manhattan, Malibu, Midwest