The Research Centre for Blockchain Technology (RCBT) in
the Department of Computing (COMP), PolyU and MONASH AI Institute, MONASH
University cohost the Industry Master Class entitled AI-Powered Risk &
Compliance in Web3 on 19th May 2026. This master class offers a
practical introduction to how AI-powered techniques are applied in Web3 to
support risk detection and compliance. I attended the class and selfie before
start.
In the beginning, Prof. Allen Au (COMP) gave a welcome
message.
Then Prof. Joseph Liu (MONASH) gave an opening remark.
Prof. Joseph Liu was the first speaker and his topic
entitled “Foundations of Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies & Privacy
Technologies”. Firstly, he introduced their Fintech Lab and also briefed their
areas of focus including Sustainable Finance, Trusted Digital Transformation,
Inclusive Economic Systems and Ethical Digital Finance, etc.
Then he briefed what is Blockchain in two directions that
one was distributed ledger and the other one is decentralized trust. And then
he briefed the chronology of innovation since 2008. He also introduced digital
signature especially ring signature for privacy.
Finally, he introduced his PhD thesis in 2004 for
linkable ring signature and his research was employed in Monero 10 years later in
2014.
The second speaker was Prof. John Yuen (MONASH) and his
presentation title was “Cryptocurrency vs. Traditional Finance: Understanding
the AML Gap”. He introduced traditional Anti-Money Launching (AML) struggled in
crypto.
He described the traditional finance handling the AML from
ID verification (Know Your Customer – KYC) to transaction monitoring and then reporting.
He explained why traditional AML works because of “Known ID”, “Central Control
Point”, “Strong Regulatory Framework” and “Traceable Flows”.
But cryptocurrency transaction was difference because of “Pseudonymity”,
“Permissionless Access”, “Borderless” and “Decentralized Ecosystem”. After that
Prof. John Yuen compared traditional and crypto system that AML in traditional
finance relies on structure but crypto removes it!
Lastly, he mentioned Crypto Money Laundering mechanism
from placement to layering and integration. He summarized four core challenges
and they were “Technical Complexity”, “Operational Scale”, “Legal &
Regulatory Fragmentation” and “Attribution Problem”.
The third speaker was Dr. Teresa Wang (MONASH) and her
topic named “AI Techniques for AML in Cryptocurrency”. She discussed rule based
and AI based methods in crypto money laundering.
Then she compared the advantages and limitations of
different approaches. Dr. Wang mentioned three approaches and they were
Heuristic Rule-Based, Traditional Machine Learning-Based and Graph-Based
Approach.
Finally, she mentioned key challenges such as
demystifying mixer laundering and tracing privacy coin laundering. The future
works should be from algorithm to system.
The fourth speaker was Prof. Andreas Deppeler (MONASH)
and his presentation entitled “AML Compliance & Risk Management in
Cryptocurrency Ecosystems”. He said stablecoins accounted for 30% of all
on-chain crypto transaction volume by 2025! Stablecoin characteristics included
high liquidity, near-instant settlement and global interoperability.
And then he briefed the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) which is the global standards for AML and counter-terrorist financing
(CFT). After that he introduced the Travel Rule that adapted the FATF’s
traditional payment transparency requirements.
Finally, Prof. Deppeler introduced different compliance
and risk management in different areas including US, EU as well as HK.
The last speaker was Dr. Xiangmeng Wang (COMP) and her
presentation topic named “Data Analytics in Fraud Detection: A Graph Learning
and Causal Inference Perspective”. Firstly, she briefed three common frauds existing
such as Financial Fraud, Fake Accounts & E-commerce Scams, and Money
Laundering & Web3 Scams.
Then she briefed how AI and Graph Learning can enhance
the fraud detection. She also compared the Traditional ML and Graph Reality.
Finally, she explores three questions in this class and
they related GNNs for financial fraud detection, design graph models and
current challenges.
After the Industry Master Class, we enjoyed a tea session.
I took a photo with Allen and Jeff for memory.
I also took a photo with Prof. Andreas Deppeler (MONASH).
Jeff and I made two new friends: Mr. Jeremy Tang (COO,
Trad To B.com Limited (Trad2B)) and Mr. Hon Wai Lo (IT Operations Director,
Trad2B).
I also made a new friend from India: Mr. Venkat R (Sales
Manager – Compliance Solutions, NanoMatriX).
