Slate Money Money Talks: Modern Money Laundering
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Jan 20, 2026 Joe Salama, Chief Compliance Officer at Coinbase and an expert in anti-money laundering, joins to discuss the global landscape of money laundering. He explores the intricate stages of laundering and highlights cash-heavy businesses versus trade-based schemes. Salama shares insights into the staggering $2–$5 trillion laundered annually, the vulnerabilities of the art market, and the influence of Chinese currency controls on laundering networks. He argues for improved international cooperation and the role of blockchain in tracing illicit flows.
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Three-Step Money Laundering Formula
- Money laundering follows placement, layering, and reintegration as its enduring three-step formula.
- Joe Salama says the methods evolve but the basic stages remain the same across eras.
Trade-Based Laundering Scales Best
- Trade-based money laundering scales better than small cash businesses because it hides value inside cross-border commerce.
- Joe Salama highlights over- and under-invoicing as common techniques to move large sums.
Laundering Is A Trillions-Dollar Problem
- Global estimates of laundered funds sit around $2–5 trillion annually, so the problem is order-of-magnitude huge.
- Joe Salama trusts the scale even if point estimates are imprecise.