Dollarisation, implemented in Ecuador in 2000, has contributed to the country's macroeconomic stability; however, it has also generated new vulnerabilities to financial crimes, in particular money laundering. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of dollarization on the vulnerability of emerging economies to this type of crime, taking Ecuador as a case study. A mixed approach was used, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, and a multiple linear regression model (SLO) was applied to analyses the effects of inflation and liquidity on suspicious operations (ROS) during the period 2015–2024. The results showed that both inflation and liquidity have a positive and statistically significant relationship with the number of ROS, jointly explaining 94.5% of their variability. Likewise, a sustained increase in suspicious operations was identified from 2020, which reflects a growing vulnerability of the Ecuadorean financial system. In conclusion, while dollarization has favoured economic stability, it has also limited the ability to respond to emerging financial risks, due to the absence of own monetary instruments and structural weaknesses in financial supervision.
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