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[Purpose] The purpose of this study is to discuss, based on international as well as national laws and practices, various issues and potential solutions surrounding the growing problem of money laundering practices using cryptocurrency transactions. [Methodology] A balanced combination of theoretical and empirical methods has been used in the course of research; in particular, the method of comparative legal research has been employed extensively throughout the text of article. The theoretical component of this research paper includes commentaries by Ukrainian, German, other European as well as American researchers in this field. Their works are cited appropriately. The subject scope of the paper covers modern phenomenon of money laundering based on cryptocurrency transactions. [Findings] This paper extensively discusses international and national legal frameworks for identifying and stopping as well as preventing various money laundering schemes and techniques based on cryptocurrency transactions and blockchain technology in general. It has been established that with the global cryptocurrency market valued at roughly $1 trillion, its attractiveness to money launderers endangers economies and financial systems of numerous world jurisdictions. Based on theoretical observations and relevant analyses of legal cases, authors’ conclusions on how to fight this latent type of criminality have been presented. [Practical Implications] The research is deemed to be of value to national regulators, law enforcement agents and legal commentators, who think, write and act with the goal of fighting new money laundering patterns. It can serve as part of a broader international roadmap on how to identify suspicious money laundering schemes using various cryptocurrency transactions and also to impose effective sanctions on criminal actors behind those schemes. [Originality] The paper originality relies on its comprehensive and balanced combination of economic and legal analyses of the issues presented and potential solutions to them. It also incorporates both sound theoretical research and in-depth coverage of law enforcement actions, as well as legal cases against crypto money launderers.

This paper raises current theoretical and practical issues related to the implementation of a comprehensive mechanism of liability for economic criminal offences in Ukraine. The purpose of this study is to identify the main problem areas in the criminal law security of economic relations and to develop conceptual advice on their elimination. The paper uses a wide range of methodological tools (including comparative, historical, systemic, Aristotelian (dogmatic), modelling), which enabled a comprehensive and critical analysis of the current state and prospects for improving the criminal regulation of economic relations in the country. The results of the study are designed to promote the development of a unified conceptual model of protection of the national economy through criminal law. It is established that the prolonged economic crisis and distortions of market relations continue to adversely affect the state and dynamics of economic crime. The author’s opinion is also argued that since criminal law measures cannot objectively have a positive effect on economic processes, they can be relied on only to eliminate certain adverse consequences of economic activity. The study substantiated that the term “criminal offences against the market economy” in the context denoting the crimes for which responsibility is prescribed by Section VII of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, successfully passes conditional verification for compliance with the name of this structural part of the Criminal Code. Over the past five years, Ukraine’s criminal law policy on combating crimes in the sphere of economic activity has not undergone radical changes. Finally, there are hopes for the active development of legal research to become a reliable foundation for quality law-making to optimise the statutory framework in terms of criminal law response to economic and financial torts