Tagged: fincen

June 22, 2023 @ 3:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Detractors of digital assets, or crypto, typically point to the utilization of crypto to pursue nefarious activities such as money laundering. Rules exist for financial transactions regarding “know your customer” (KYC) and “anti-money laundering” (AML), but they are enforced to various degrees depending on the… Read More

January 18, 2023 @ 4:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

“Fueled a high-tech axis of cryptocrime.” The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the arrest of Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, a Russian national who resides in Shenzhen, China, as the founder and operator of Bitzlato, a crypto exchange the feds have alleged to have processed… Read More

October 17, 2022 @ 3:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, it was reported that Bittrex was the target of an enforcement action emanating from the US Department of Treasury. Two divisions at Treasury, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced enforcement actions. The crypto trading… Read More

October 11, 2022 @ 11:23 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Department of Treasury has revealed two enforcement actions against the crypto exchange Bittrex. According to a statement issued by Treasury, Bittrex has settled for $24 million with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and for $29 million with Financial Crimes Enforcement Network… Read More

April 28, 2022 @ 8:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The House Committee on Financial Services has a busy day planned. Frist, a full Committee hearing is scheduled to address “Oversight of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network”  or FinCEN. FinCEN is the enforcement arm of the US Department of Treasury. Himamauli “Him” Das, Acting Director… Read More

March 8, 2022 @ 10:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, FinCEN, the enforcement branch of the US Department of Treasury, posted an Alert on “Increased Vigilance for Potential Russian Sanctions Evasion Attempts.” Russia, along with Belarus, have been targeted with economic sanctions designed to pressure these countries following the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. FinCEN… Read More

March 8, 2022 @ 9:14 am By JD Alois  |  

Multiple reports are claiming that the White House will issue an Executive Order on cryptocurrency at some point this week. The news follows days of concern from some policymakers that Russia and its elites may leverage crypto to evade the growing list of economic sanctions…. Read More

February 5, 2022 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the US Department of Treasury issued a statement on illicit activity in the “high-value art market.” More specifically, activities that include money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The study found that while there is some evidence of money laundering risk in the high-value art… Read More

December 22, 2021 @ 10:20 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

2022 could see aggressive movement by some federal agencies, an experienced industry hand suggests. Joseph Lynyak III is a partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney and one of the nation’s foremost experts in the country on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),… Read More

December 17, 2021 @ 1:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes, is issuing a request for information (RFI) “seeking comments on ways to… Read More

August 12, 2021 @ 10:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto is “changing,” and BitMEX is “changing with it” according to Alexander Höptner, the CEO at the Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange. In a blog post dated August 10, 2021, the team at BitMEX revealed that they’ve reached a “resolution” with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission… Read More

August 10, 2021 @ 4:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has announced a consent order against BitMEX and its affiliated entities. The order stems from a CFTC action filed on October 1, 2020, against BitMEX and its three individual founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed. The CFTC’s… Read More

August 2, 2021 @ 11:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Jake Chervinsky, the General Counsel at Compound Finance, recently shared insights and his take on the deal with the recently proposed US infrastructure bill. 1/ 🚨 Here's the deal with the US infrastructure bill: A new provision has been added that expands the Tax Code's… Read More

July 1, 2021 @ 10:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

On June 30, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes, issued its first… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 5:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sanctions research from blockchain security firm CipherTrace reveals that over 72,000 “unique” Iranian IP addresses have been linked to over 4.5 million “unique” Bitcoin (BTC) addresses. CipherTrace notes that since monitoring sanctions-related IP usage across the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain network, they’ve been able to identify… Read More

April 11, 2021 @ 3:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

Several months ago, FinCEN submitted for publication in the Federal Register its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding certain transactions that involve virtual currency or digital assets. FinCEN or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury that… Read More

March 30, 2021 @ 11:00 am By Ariel Glasner and Amit Roitman  |  

President Joe Biden’s young administration is poised to deliver heightened – and perhaps unprecedented – regulatory scrutiny of the exploding Fintech industry.  The groundwork for a more active regulatory regime has been set over the course of the past decade.  Prior administrations harnessed existing enforcement… Read More

March 20, 2021 @ 10:22 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Peter Van Valkenburgh, the Director of Research at Coin Center, a leading non-profit entity focused on the latest policy issues facing digital currencies, notes that his organization will be using the additional time provided by FinCEN to submit another comment in “ongoing surveillance rulemaking.” Coin… Read More

March 12, 2021 @ 10:57 am By JD Alois  |  

While there is a good amount of discourse regarding the risk of digital assets and the ability for bad actors to use crypto to launder money or perhaps finance illicit activities FinCEN recently indicated their attention in a more tactile direction. Earlier this week, FinCEN… Read More

February 4, 2021 @ 5:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset exchange Coinbase recently published its Around the Block #11: “A snapshot of decentralized finance (DeFi) and two sides of the crypto regulatory spectrum” (report), which aims to cover important issues in the crypto and blockchain industry. In this latest edition, released on February… Read More