Last Friday, the US Treasury Department announced the release of a “report on illegal funding in the high-value art market”. The Treasury noted, “This investigation examined art market actors and segments of the high-value art market that may offer money laundering and terrorist financing concerns to the US financial system.” Depending on the structure and market incentives, the burgeoning digital art market may create new hazards, such as the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Also read: US Treasury issue statement on NFTs and art crimes
The research suggests a number of measures to mitigate the dangers, including upgrading law enforcement training, improving private sector information sharing, and imposing anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding restrictions on some art market players.
In January, T. K. Keen, administrator of the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, cautioned that “scams promising huge profits on cryptocurrencies and NFTs are flooding the Internet.”
