Editor’s Note: Casey Michel is the author of “American Kleptocracy: How the US Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History,” and is at work on a book investigating foreign lobbying in Washington. The views expressed in this piece are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

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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. And understandably so. Before Binance’s settlement with US authorities, the company represented 60% of the market for crypto spot trading. And Zhao himself, as the Wall Street Journal noted, was the so-called “king” of crypto.

No more. With US authorities slapping more than $4 billion in penalties against the company, Binance risks becoming a shell of its former self. And Zhao joins a roster of once-feted crypto chiefs who have since fallen from grace.

But while many pieces of analysis have focused on what this means for the future of the crypto industry itself — or whether the industry can even recover from such stupendous scandals — observers risk missing the forest for the trees about what good news this settlement is. American authorities’ moves against Binance and Zhao illustrate that Washington is finally taking the threat of trans-national money laundering in crypto seriously — and that the US is finally focused on tackling one of the favorite tools that kleptocrats, oligarchs and dictators around the world rely on to launder their wealth, evade sanctions and bankroll everything from terrorism to anti-democratic crusades.

Just look at what Binance and Zhao were accused of, and who they are accused of enabling.  American authorities alleged that the crypto giant allowed terrorist financing for Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, Al-Qaeda and ISIS, along with child sex abuse and narcotics transactions. American authorities uncovered networks connected to Russian illicit finance, as well as to sanctioned Iranian entities.

Taken in total, the details are shocking. But for those familiar with the history of modern money laundering, they’re hardly surprising. Binance may be the biggest crypto house exposed, but it is simply the latest in a long line of financial institutions whose lack of money laundering oversight — and willingness to look the other way — has drawn in staggering amounts of illicit wealth and attracted the world’s leading criminal rings and kleptocratic regimes.

If anything, this is a pattern that we’ve seen time and again over the past few decades, and one that’s hardly unique to crypto. Whenever an industry emerges without sufficient money laundering controls, it begins sucking up illicit finance, laundering untold wealth in the process — and often leading to spectacular scandal as a result.

Take the American banking sector, for instance. In the late 20th century, US banks were an effective free-for-all, with no internal money laundering controls — giving everyone from dictators to terrorist organizations reason to turn to US banks to hide and launder their wealth. It was only after the September 11th attacks — and questions about how the hijackers used the American banking system to finance their attack — that legislators passed the Patriot Act, which effectively cleaned up US banks, forcing them to conduct basic due diligence on customers’ funds.

Or look at American real estate. Thanks to an exemption from money laundering checks — an exemption that was supposed to be “temporary,” but which has remained in place for more than two decades — US real estate has ballooned into a go-to vehicle for the world’s leading oligarchs and kleptocrats. Over and again, everything from Manhattan high-rises to Malibu beachfronts to Midwest manufacturing plants have allegedly housed illicit wealth, easily and anonymously. Only in recent years have US officials finally moved toward cleaning up the industry.

Other industries, from private equity and hedge funds to auction houses and the art market, have followed similar patterns. And now, thanks to US authorities’ actions, it appears to be crypto’s turn.

In a certain sense, this was always inevitable. Crypto’s ethos, after all, wasn’t just to make transactions more secure, but also to offer anonymity to anyone who wanted it, all as a means of evading those trying to track funds. And to be sure, many populations targeted by repressive governments rely on crypto to bankroll their efforts and deal with crises.

But crypto was also, in many ways, the perfect tool for kleptocrats and criminals trying to dodge sanctions and duck investigators. (As one Binance staffer wrote, the company should have a banner that says, “is washing drug money too hard these days – come to binance we got cake for you.”) And since dirty money is always looking to be washed clean, it’s no surprise that the titan of the crypto world allegedly attracted the most nefarious groups and regimes around the world.

Now, though, those heady days appear to be coming to a close. 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. All it took was for American authorities to finally recognize that the industry’s transformation into a sieve for illicit wealth made it the best friend for kleptocrats and terrorists around the world.

After a challenging year for crypto investors, the festive season heralds not only the joy of Christmas but also some potential investment opportunities.

“After a long period of despair, [BTC] price starts to show some signs of making a turnaround,” posted CryptoCon on X, and its is currently in the ‘Hope’ phase of the crypto cycle , according to a prominent analyst. 

This means that investors are starting to believe in Bitcoin again after long despair, and the price of Bitcoin has started to show signs of recovery, and it is now trading at fair value, he highlights. 

The potential recovery of BTC could act as a catalyst for a broader sector rebound, making it a crucial period for investors to strategically position their capital. In anticipation of the upcoming quarter, Finbold identified five cryptocurrencies with the potential to dominate the next quarter. 

Solana (SOL) 

Solana (SOL) is a smart contracts platform with a unique architecture that allows it to process thousands of transactions per second while keeping costs extremely low. It’s among the cheapest cryptocurrency ecosystems on the market, as users pay less than $0.001 per transaction on average.

A few days ago, Solana’s DeFi ecosystem reached a significant milestone, with its Total Value Locked (TVL) hitting a new yearly peak of over $655 million. This marks a substantial increase of 211% since the $210.47 million TVL recorded on January 1, 2023.

SOL is currently trading at $62.24, experiencing a 42.7% price increase in the last month.

In the next phase of the market expansion, SOL is expected to reach 10% of Ethereum (ETH), according to InvestAnswers, a prominent crypto analyst. 

Assuming Ethereum tops $8,000 in the next bull market, the analyst speculates that if Solana reaches 10% of ETH’s market cap, a threshold it has already reached in the past, that would mean a $231 price target for SOL, resulting in a return on investment (ROI) of approximately 278% from the current price of $61.24. 

Ethereum (ETH)

Despite Ethereum’s (ETH) struggling to break above the $2.100 resistance level, currently trading at $2.103, it exhibits a positive trend.

Ether recorded a significant 16.2% gain, and its current positive momentum is supported by several factors, including applications for spot ETFs and the expansion of Ethereum’s ecosystem, driven by layer-2 solutions.

Furthermore, the  US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated the review process for Fidelity’s spot Ether ETF proposal a couple of days ago. 

Similar applications from firms like BlackRock are also awaiting regulatory green light. If approved, these ETFs would bolster Ether’s status as a digital commodity, reducing the likelihood of being treated as a security and potentially driving more investors toward it. 

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently aiming to reclaim the $40,000 level as it seeks a new all-time high, primarily fueled by speculation surrounding the potential approval of a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) by United States regulators.

The news regarding the ETF, combined with the upcoming halving event, is widely seen as a major events that could propel Bitcoin to another record high. BTC is currency trading at 38,802, gaining over 40% year to date. 

XRP

XRP (XRP) is the fifth largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of  33.1 billion. It’s trading at $0.62, representing an increase of 1.86% in the previous 24 hours, at the time of writing.

These gains come after a week when the token lost -0.99% of its value, contrary to a 57.3% increase over the year.

In the last year, XRP’s price has increased by 53%, allowing it to outperform 64% of the top 100 crypto assets in this period. It trades above its 200-day simple moving average while experiencing 18 green days in the last 30 days.

XRP could reach $10 or $50, depending on its trajectory, according to cryptocurrency analyst EGRAG CRYPTO. 

If XRP touches a price of $10, it translates to growth of over 1530% from current levels. On the other hand, if XRP hits $50, it would mean a rally of over 8000%.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Finally, a more affordable option for the preparation of the potential bull market. The world-famous dog meme cryptocurrency Shiba Inu (SHIB) has re-captured investor attention after its layer 2 solution, Shibarium, saw an explosion of over 4,400% transactions in the last 24 hours.

Transactions reached 5.1 million, the highest ever recorded since its launch, according to data from Shibariumscam.  

Subsequently, the announcement SHIB increased in value to $0.00000839, marking a 1.3% increase. Shiba Inu’s market cap is $4.9 billion, making it the 18th largest crypto.

Over the last 24 hours, the trading volume of Shiba Inu has been $130.5 million, with a circulating supply of 589.3 trillion tokens.

The token is down by almost 90% from its all-time high (ATH) in 2021, but investors are hopeful that it will regain its value in the potential bull market. 

Conclusion

All things considered, the above assets have shown strength and positive developments recently, indicating that further increases could be in store for them at the beginning of next year. However, things in the crypto industry can sometimes change on a whim, so doing one’s own due diligence is vital.

Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.