Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction Classification

Cryptocurrency money laundering is a pressing issue, as it not only facilitates and hides criminal activities but also disrupts markets and the overall financial system. To respond this challenge, researchers are trying to develop robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) frameworks. These efforts play a c...

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Main Authors: Stefano Ferretti, Gabriele D'Angelo, Vittorio Ghini
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10930500/
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author Stefano Ferretti
Gabriele D'Angelo
Vittorio Ghini
author_facet Stefano Ferretti
Gabriele D'Angelo
Vittorio Ghini
author_sort Stefano Ferretti
collection DOAJ
description Cryptocurrency money laundering is a pressing issue, as it not only facilitates and hides criminal activities but also disrupts markets and the overall financial system. To respond this challenge, researchers are trying to develop robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) frameworks. These efforts play a crucial role in promoting societal welfare by mitigating the impact of criminal activities. This paper explores the application of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) for classifying Bitcoin transactions. The research specifically employs Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs), Graph Attention Networks (GATs), the Chebyshev spatial convolutional neural networks, and GraphSAGE networks. Based on the dataset analysis, we experiment with different subsets of features. Our findings suggest that the use of Graph Neural Network convolutions, combined with a final linear layer and skip connections, allow for an improvement in the state-of-the-art results, especially when Chebyshev and GATv2 convolutions are used.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2169-3536
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publishDate 2025-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-e35ffc49f252435d91a0b88f6a3a295e2025-08-20T03:40:52ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-0113502015021510.1109/ACCESS.2025.355224010930500Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction ClassificationStefano Ferretti0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1911-4708Gabriele D'Angelo1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3690-6651Vittorio Ghini2Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DISI), University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering (DISI), University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering (DISI), University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyCryptocurrency money laundering is a pressing issue, as it not only facilitates and hides criminal activities but also disrupts markets and the overall financial system. To respond this challenge, researchers are trying to develop robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) frameworks. These efforts play a crucial role in promoting societal welfare by mitigating the impact of criminal activities. This paper explores the application of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) for classifying Bitcoin transactions. The research specifically employs Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs), Graph Attention Networks (GATs), the Chebyshev spatial convolutional neural networks, and GraphSAGE networks. Based on the dataset analysis, we experiment with different subsets of features. Our findings suggest that the use of Graph Neural Network convolutions, combined with a final linear layer and skip connections, allow for an improvement in the state-of-the-art results, especially when Chebyshev and GATv2 convolutions are used.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10930500/Anti-money launderingdeep learninggraph neural networksclassification
spellingShingle Stefano Ferretti
Gabriele D'Angelo
Vittorio Ghini
Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction Classification
IEEE Access
Anti-money laundering
deep learning
graph neural networks
classification
title Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction Classification
title_full Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction Classification
title_fullStr Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction Classification
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction Classification
title_short Enhancing Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks: An Application of Graph Neural Networks in Cryptocurrency Transaction Classification
title_sort enhancing anti money laundering frameworks an application of graph neural networks in cryptocurrency transaction classification
topic Anti-money laundering
deep learning
graph neural networks
classification
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10930500/
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AT gabrieledangelo enhancingantimoneylaunderingframeworksanapplicationofgraphneuralnetworksincryptocurrencytransactionclassification
AT vittorioghini enhancingantimoneylaunderingframeworksanapplicationofgraphneuralnetworksincryptocurrencytransactionclassification