Virtual Currency Regulations: Key Insights for the Payments Industry — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
Navigating New Compliance Challenges: The Impact of the Money Transmitter Modernization Act on Payroll Processing - Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
On August 6th, 2025, following a four-week trial, a jury found Roman Storm, the founder of a crypto mixing service called Tornado Cash, guilty of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The jury was...more
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is an umbrella term used to describe financial services provided outside of the traditional markets, that rely on blockchain technologies to create innovative products instead of relying on...more
Blockchain analysis is a powerful tool that provides insight into what is happening on a blockchain network. Who is trading with whom? Which wallets are most active on decentralized finance exchanges? Which wallets are...more
Government attitude and definition - As in many countries, the regulation of cryptocurrencies in Canada is divided among various levels of government and administrative agencies, depending on the nature of the activity...more
State-chartered crypto banking entities and other crypto financial institutions will now be subject to a "transparent and equitable framework" when applying for direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment systems...more
Two recent federal enforcement actions—announced the same day—have underlined the need for crypto companies to carefully consider their anti-money laundering (AML) obligations or else risk significant penalties....more
Recent news coverage has highlighted two potentially watershed moments in the FinTech revolution: the rise of Decentralized Finance (“DeFi”) that challenges both traditional FinTechs and legacy financial institutions alike,...more
The news that one of the world’s leading online payments companies will allow its 325 million account holders to conduct transactions using cryptocurrencies serves as a high-profile indicator of the increasing maturity of...more
On October 8, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced the release of a Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework produced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Cyber-Digital Task Force. The 83-page framework is intended to help...more
According to one blockchain and cryptocurrency security firm, this year is on pace to be the second highest in cryptocurrency theft, hacking and fraud, with January through May 2020 already seeing $1.36 billion stolen in...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted a man from Ohio for running Helix, a darknet-based cryptocurrency laundering service that is alleged to have laundered bitcoins worth $300 million....more
On October 11, 2019, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”)...more
U.S. Developments - U.S. Federal Regulatory Developments - CFTC, FinCEN, and SEC Leaders Release a Join Statement on Digital Assets - On October 11, 2019, the heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”),...more
The Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Guidance clarifies and expands FSRA expectations for OCAB Framework license holders. In June 2018, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) unveiled a...more
U.S. Developments - Regulatory Developments - CFTC Announces Two Events Designed to Encourage FinTech Innovation - On June 27, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced two events designed to...more
On May 9, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the US Department of the Treasury (FinCEN) issued guidance relating to how its regulations apply to certain businesses that transact in "convertible virtual currencies"...more
The Situation: The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") released interpretive guidance concerning the application of the Bank Secrecy Act ("BSA") and the anti-money laundering ("AML") regulations to certain...more
A few days before thousands of blockchain industry participants poured into New York for “Blockchain Week,” the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance on virtual currencies...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is the U.S. Treasury Department bureau charged with monitoring financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing and...more
For the past several years, advocates of crypto assets and other public uses of blockchain technology have sought guidance from U.S. regulators regarding the legal implications of new or novel uses of that technology....more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently issued guidance consolidating current FinCEN regulations, rulings, and guidance about cryptocurrencies and money services businesses (MSBs) under the Bank Secrecy Act...more
There exists no uniformity with respect to how businesses that deal in virtual currencies (also known as "cryptocurrencies") such as Bitcoin are treated among the states. For these proprietors, often the first question asked...more
Technology evolves and events unfold at a dizzying pace in the blockchain world, but even by those standards this past week was tough to keep up with. Every day seemed to bring a new first for the industry...more
Permissionless blockchains, like the one underlying the bitcoin payment network, were created to provide the public with transparency over transaction information and records....more
The first two weeks in March 2018 have seen a number of developments with respect to the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the United States. Regulation of Online Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms- On March 7, 2018, the...more