The Taiwan government and prosecutors are adopting measures to tackle the growing use of digital assets for bribes as the country awaits the 2024 presidential election. Taiwan’s officials said bribery methods have been changing recently, moving away from cash-based transactions toward digital means of payment, including cryptocurrencies.

Taiwan Reports $172 Million in Bribes Between 2000 and 2023

The Taiwanese authorities have identified significant digital assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, among assets that can be used for bribery. As such, the government said it is taking steps to eliminate such threats ahead of the upcoming presidential elections next year.

Over the years, popular bribery methods have been changing, shifting away from traditional cash-based payments, the authorities said. Apart from popular cryptocurrencies, several third-party digital payment platforms have emerged as widely-used alternatives, including Pi Wallet, Line Pay, Oufubao, and Jiekou Payment.

According to local reports, the authorities have confirmed bribery cases of more than 1.25 billion yuan ($172.5 million) in the period between 2000-end and May 2023. Specifically, around 50 million yuan of this bribe was documented as a bonus during the municipal elections 2022. Further, the Taiwanese prosecutors said they had prosecuted 1,335 cases associated with bribery during last year’s elections.

Several years ago, the New Power Party (NPP), one of the biggest political parties in Taiwan, was embroiled in a corruption and bribery scandal. One of NPP’s top former officials was accused of accepting illegal campaign donations from a businessman in exchange for political favors. The scandal tarnished the NPP’s image and led to investigations into the party’s finances and political practices.

Illicit Use of Crypto Hit $20 Billion in 2022

In recent years, cryptocurrencies have become an increasingly popular payment method for funding illegal activities and crimes. Due to their decentralized nature, it is more difficult to trace the flow of crypto funds, making these assets suitable for financing illicit activities such as terrorism financing, dark web market transactions, and ransomware payments.

In particular, the illegal use of cryptocurrencies surged to a record high of $20.1 billion in 2022 as the number of transactions involving sanctioned companies increased significantly, a report by blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis showed earlier this year. To be more specific, transactions associated with entities sanctioned by the US soared over 100,000-fold in 2022, accounting for 44% of last year’s illicit transactions.

However, it is essential to note that while cryptocurrencies have been used for funding illegal activities, they still represent a relatively small portion of the overall crypto volume. It is crucial to avoid generalizing and acknowledge that any form of financial asset, including cash, can be misused for illicit purposes, and most crypto users engage in legitimate transactions.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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