Regulatory Wandering: Episode 56 – The Intersection of Financial Crime and Cryptocurrencies with Chengyi Ong | Thomas Fox

Chengyi Ong leads public policy in the Asia Pacific region for Chainalysis from the company’s regional headquarters in Singapore. Based on Chainalysis’ blockchain data analytics platform, she works with public and private sector stakeholders to distill developments in digital asset markets and their intersections with global and regional regulatory trends.

Before joining Chainalysis, Chengyi spent 13 years at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he held positions in financial regulation and supervision, financial sector development and central banking. She also served as Advisor to the Executive Director for Southeast Asia at the International Monetary Fund.

In this episode of Regulatory Ramblings, she talks to host Ajay Shamdasani about the intersection of money laundering, financial crime and cryptocurrencies.

The conversation begins with Chengyi describing her upbringing, formative years, career choice and time as a supervisor at MAS. She then discusses what Chainalysis does, its market position and her interest in the digital asset sector.

She shares her thoughts on the rising levels of both crypto-native and non-crypto-native money laundering, why such trends are growing, and the types of crimes coming out of Asia, citing key findings from Chainalysis’s recent report on the issue . , including the Crypto Crime Report 2024 and the Crypto Money Laundering Report 2024 (links below).

Chengyi also discusses her thoughts on using stablecoins for money laundering, what her company’s report says about the destination of illicit funds, and the best ways to prevent crypto-native money laundering – especially in the Asia Pacific . That’s why she’s been outspoken about what regional regulators should do to address this issue, noting that more needs to be done. What follows is a deeper conversation about what the role of regulators in detecting financial crime should be vis-à-vis cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions – the latter of which are financial gatekeepers in their own right.

The conversation ends with Chengyi reflecting on the trajectory of her career and how AML regulations in APAC have evolved over the years. She emphasizes that in an era of aggressive enforcement actions, sanctions and not insubstantial fines, it will be imperative for organizations to verify the entities they deal with and do business with. She gives some suggestions on how to do that.

Useful links in this episode:

Connect or follow Chengyi Ong on LinkedIn |

Chain analysis: web page |

Crypto Crime Report 2024 |

Crypto Money Laundering Report 2024 | blog/2024-crypto-money-laundering/

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