The role of virtual currencies in facilitating criminal offenses .

Virtual currencies are the money of the present and the future, and they play a major role in many criminal crimes, due to their widespread use in all aspects of life by virtue of their inclusion of all the functions of money, and this results in the occurrence of many criminal crimes, both traditional ones, such as: theft, forgery, and money laundering. Money, fraud; Or new ones that have been recently criminalized by the legislator, such as hacking electronic wallets, and crimes related to mining virtual currencies. In our research, we will present the definition of virtual currencies, their types, and the technology used in their production, block chain technology. We will also present the division of crimes associated with virtual currencies, which are divided into crimes that occur against the currencies themselves, and crimes that occur against electronic wallets that are used to save and trade virtual currency codes. The importance of this issue lies in the danger of leaving virtual currencies without criminal regulation. Due to its special nature and the many advantages associated with it, namely the difficulty of tracking and the ease and speed of transferring money, it is used to facilitate illegal darknet transactions, and as an intermediary in many illegal actions that constitute criminal crimes, such as financing terrorist operations, arms and drug trafficking, and money laundering. It can be used through... Legalizing virtual currencies, establishing foundations and controls for them, and controlling, reducing and combating the crimes associated with them. The problem of the topic revolves around a main problem, which is: What is the face of criminal protection for virtual currencies, which in turn gives rise to a group of sub-problems represented in: The extent of the legality of dealing in virtual currencies? Which is better for countries to combat virtual currency crimes: recognizing these currencies or criminalizing them? Can virtual currencies be counterfeited? What is the impact of virtual currencies on money laundering crime? How do virtual currencies contribute to financing terrorism, arms and drug trade? We concluded several results, including: The spread of virtual currencies has resulted in the emergence of many new criminal crimes, and economic courts are specialized in looking into virtual currency crimes, and virtual currencies can be the subject of money crimes, so the crime of theft and fraud occurs. And several recommendations, including: the importance of legalizing the status of virtual currencies, the need for legislative intervention to enact deterrent penalties for crimes related to them, the use of modern technologies that are used to track the movement of virtual currencies to detect suspicious patterns of them, and tightening control over the financial and banking sector in the country through the use of modern technology, and the introduction of technology. Blockchain if possible.