Blockchain and the Law

Category Archives: FinCEN

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Ringing in the New Year: Regulators and Industry Seek to Bring Stability to Stablecoins in 2022. How (Much), Remains a Question.

On December 17, 2021, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) – a collaborative body formed under the Dodd-Frank Act composed of state and federal regulators and tasked with identifying risks and responding to emerging threats to financial stability – released its 2021 Annual Report (the “Report”). In the Report, the FSOC offered wide-ranging insight into … Continue Reading

Treasury Department Steps Up Its Counter-Ransomware Efforts and Simultaneously Issues New Sanctions Compliance Guidance for Virtual Currency Industry

Recently, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, released a report on ransomware trends stating that during the first half of 2021, 68 different ransomware variants extracted approximately $600 million from victims across the country. FinCEN identified Bitcoin as the most common ransomware-related payment method in reported transactions and … Continue Reading

U.S. Federal Regulators Turn Up the Heat on Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms

With new types of digital assets and related business on the rise, federal authorities have been busy investigating.  Recently, the SEC, FinCEN and the CFTC have imposed some notable settlements involving cryptocurrency trading platforms for allegedly operating without appropriate approvals from financial regulatory authorities.  This may be the start of the next wave of government … Continue Reading

Trump Administration Plans to Introduce New AML Requirements for Cryptocurrencies

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin remarked before a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee three weeks ago that “significant new requirements at FinCEN” for cryptocurrencies would be introduced quickly, in response to Senator Maggie Hassan’s (D-NH) question regarding the Treasury Department’s proposed use of budget increases for anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism efforts (video of the … Continue Reading

IRS Officials Discuss Promotional Airdrops, Pre-2018 Crypto-for-Crypto Exchanges, and Other Issues Not Addressed in Recent Tax Guidance

In October of 2019, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service issued the first new guidance on the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions in over five years (the “Guidance”).  The Guidance comprising a revenue ruling (Rev. Rul. 2019-24) and answers to frequently asked questions on the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions published on the IRS’s website. This post discusses … Continue Reading

CFTC, FinCEN, and SEC Warn of Crypto AML Enforcement

Based on a recent regulatory statement, entities involved with cryptocurrency or digital assets should revisit their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism obligations (AML/CFT) compliance under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). On October 11, the leaders of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Securities and … Continue Reading

U.S. Treasury to Review FinCEN’s Cryptocurrency Practices

In October, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) released its Annual Plan, outlining the Office of Inspector General’s audit and investigative priorities for fiscal year 2018. The Annual Plan notes that “digital currencies provide a potential money laundering instrument because they facilitate international payments without the transmittal services of traditional financial service,” and … Continue Reading
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