Tagged: fincen

January 25, 2021 @ 10:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Grayscale, the creators of multiple publicly traded crypto funds, has committed $1 million to Coin Center – the well-known crypto non-profit and advocacy group. Additionally, Grayscale said it would top up this amount with another $1 million in matching funds through February 2021. The matching… Read More

January 22, 2021 @ 2:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, Dr. Janet Yellen, former Chair of the US Federal Reserve and soon to be the Secretary of the Treasury, testified at a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee in regards to her nomination. In advance of the hearing, Dr. Yellen submitted an… Read More

January 7, 2021 @ 10:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Payments company Square‘s (NYSE:SQ) Jack Dorsey has expressed concerns regarding recently proposed Bitcoin (BTC) related regulations. The bitcoin regulations proposed by FinCEN give few useful powers to regulators, greatly roll back economic freedoms while pointlessly surveilling law-abiding people, and create databases of info about who… Read More

January 5, 2021 @ 10:05 am By JD Alois  |  

FinCEN, part of the US Department of Treasury, is in the process of creating rules that will impact the digital asset ecosystem. FinCEN is seeking to address the illicit activity in the “convertible virtual currency” (CVC) sector and the “anticipated growth” of “legal tender digital… Read More

January 3, 2021 @ 2:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Robin Mahler Weisman, Senior Policy Counsel at Coin Center, a leading non-profit entity focused on the latest policy issues facing digital currencies, notes that the US Congress had warned the Treasury regarding its “unusually short” timeline for feedback regarding its new cryptocurrency rulemaking proposal. Weisman… Read More

December 27, 2020 @ 2:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kraken recently announced that crypto exchange pioneer Miha Grčar has joined the US-based digital assets exchange as its Head of Business Development. Kraken’s management confirmed that they’re looking forward to working with Miha Grčar, a pioneer of the digital currency exchange sector. As mentioned in… Read More

December 24, 2020 @ 4:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

This past Friday, the US Department of the Treasury published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to the Federal Register that may require financial institutions and cryptocurrency-related firms to submit updated reports, maintain records, and accurately verify the identity of customers in relation to transfers… Read More

December 22, 2020 @ 8:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

On December 19, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published a 72-page notice of proposed or suggested rulemaking, titled “Requirements for Certain Transactions Involving Convertible Virtual Currency or Digital Assets,” which could impose new and “onerous” reporting and recordkeeping requirements for virtual currency transactions,… Read More

December 21, 2020 @ 10:10 pm 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 during the past few years we’ve seen countries like Switzerland, Singapore, and the Netherlands adopt a technology-focused approach to regulating… Read More

December 19, 2020 @ 12:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

On December 18, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published a proposed rule change for digital currency transactions with “unhosted” wallets. Under the newly proposed change, banking institutions, and money services businesses (MSBs) may be required to verify customers’ identities and turn in reports… Read More

December 12, 2020 @ 12:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain security firm CipherTrace reports that only 22% of banking industry professionals and financial investigators “feel confident” in their ability to accurately identify cryptocurrency -related payments. In a December 9, 2020, CipherTrace-ACFCS Webinar on “How Cryptocurrency Intelligence Tipped the Scales in 2020 Sanctions Evasion,” more… Read More

November 20, 2020 @ 3:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Phil Liu is Chief Legal Officer and co-founder of Arca – a regulatory compliant digital asset investment platform that is building financial products utilizing blockchain. Arca is the first firm to offer a registered fund with shares issued as a digital security. The Fund… Read More

November 14, 2020 @ 2:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain security firm Ciphertrace has noted that FinCEN’s suggested rule change for the Travel Rule Threshold would “more than double” compliance events for US-based virtual asset service providers or VASPs. CipherTrace confirms that FinCEN had released a proposed rule change (in October 2020). The recommendation… Read More

October 26, 2020 @ 12:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the US Federal Reserve Board has invited comment on a proposed rule that would amend the recordkeeping and travel rule regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act. The travel rule is affiliated with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF)… Read More

October 20, 2020 @ 8:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has targeted Larry Dean Harmon, of Akron, Ohio, the founder of Helix and Coin Ninja in a first enforcement action targeting a crypto mixer. In a release, FinCEN said Harmon and his operations were assessed a $60 million civil… Read More

September 22, 2020 @ 3:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

The ongoing exposé of leaked documents from FinCEN (the enforcement branch of the US Department of Treasury), and allegations of money laundering, continues to ripple through the media. A story shared by NBC News today covers the collapse of Choice Bank, based in Belize, and… Read More

September 14, 2020 @ 9:02 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Current Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regulations state that it’s the responsibility of all financial service providers to accurately and promptly identify and report any suspicious or potentially fraudulent activity. This activity may be related to how criminals or bad actors exploit convertible virtual currencies… Read More

May 16, 2020 @ 5:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

FinCEN Director Kenneth A. Blanco delivered a speech at virtual Consensus this past week addressing several hot topics of the day – including the “Travel Rule”; the FATF requirement that virtual asset service providers (or VASPs – think crypto exchanges) maintain information on purchasers and… Read More

April 28, 2020 @ 10:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

FTX, a digital assets derivatives exchange that primarily caters to Asian traders and investors, will be introducing a spot exchange in the US markets. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO at FTX, noted that the company’s US-based trading platform is presently in its beta testing phase. The spot… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 12:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), one of the elements of the CARES Act designed to help the US SME sector that has been demolished by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been lauded in its intent but criticized in its execution. Confusion continues as banks struggle to… Read More