Category: AML

  • Crypto Needs Less Government Regulation – Not More

    Crypto Needs Less Government Regulation – Not More

    A recent opinion article by Peter Lin, “Why Regulation Is The Best Thing For Crypto,” presents common arguments on why the state and state-affiliated institutions should administer cryptocurrency. Underlying the arguments is an assumption: the free market cannot provide necessary standards for crypto and the state must step into the void. Also read: Why the…

  • EU Members Adopt Tougher Crypto Rules Than AML Directive Requires

    EU Members Adopt Tougher Crypto Rules Than AML Directive Requires

    Europe is gradually tightening the rules for the crypto space. A wave of new regulations are introducing stricter requirements for companies operating in the industry and cryptocurrency users are going to feel the difference in the coming months. The measures stem from the obligation of member states to transpose EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5)…

  • Can the Fed Kill Bitcoin? Navigating the Chokepoints of Tax Law and KYC

    Can the Fed Kill Bitcoin? Navigating the Chokepoints of Tax Law and KYC

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRlM-R7MjtY&w=560&h=349] Taxes. The one word that can kill any buzz in seconds flat. Whether you’re a libertarian ranting about how taxation is theft or one of those fabled creatures who is actually happy to file them as their so-called civic duty, one fact remains: those who don’t give the government a bite — or…

  • Money Laundering Fines Worth Billions Help Bankers Avoid Prosecution and Unpleasant Labels

    Money Laundering Fines Worth Billions Help Bankers Avoid Prosecution and Unpleasant Labels

    The recent seizure of a cargo ship owned by JP Morgan, a vessel loaded with 20 tons of cocaine according to latest accounts, highlighted the risks of banks’ involvement in illicit activities, inadvertent or otherwise. And although U.S. authorities released the MSC Gayane after the owner, JP Morgan’s asset management arm, and the operator, Mediterranean…

  • Money Laundering Scandals Bring Court Charges and Record Job Cuts to Euro Banks

    Money Laundering Scandals Bring Court Charges and Record Job Cuts to Euro Banks

    The international financial establishment is known to express concern about the risks of money laundering when the crypto space is mentioned. A string of scandals indicates, however, that traditional banks are not only susceptible to the phenomenon but sometimes complicit, whether knowingly or inadvertently. New chapters have been added to the saga over the last…

  • New Crypto Guidelines From FATF Have Far-Reaching Implications

    New Crypto Guidelines From FATF Have Far-Reaching Implications

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1-_7bNLWkI&w=560&h=349] The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) has revealed updated guidelines that would require cryptocurrency and digital asset exchanges—and potentially independent business owners and crypto holders—to share sensitive customer information as VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers), compromising user privacy and restricting crypto market access. Also read: BCH Development Fund Doubles Its Goal After a…

  • Finland Begins Regulating Cryptocurrency Service Providers

    Finland Begins Regulating Cryptocurrency Service Providers

    Finland’s president has approved a law to regulate cryptocurrency service providers including exchanges, custodian wallet providers, and issuers of cryptocurrencies. The law will enter into force next week. Crypto service providers will need to register with the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority and meet statutory requirements. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Postpones Crypto Case at Government’s…

  • Lithuania to Adopt Crypto Regulations Even Stricter Than the EU’s

    Lithuania to Adopt Crypto Regulations Even Stricter Than the EU’s

    Lithuania, one of the Baltic tigers that has in past few years demonstrated it doesn’t shy away from new technologies and the digital economy, is preparing to introduce stricter rules for crypto companies. The government in Vilnius is working on amendments that according to officials will go beyond the requirements of the latest, fifth EU…

  • Finland’s Regulatory Watchdog Plans to Supervise Localbitcoins Operations

    Finland’s Regulatory Watchdog Plans to Supervise Localbitcoins Operations

    On Monday, the Helsinki-based peer-to-peer crypto exchange Localbitcoins announced it is adding several different identification processes in order to improve AML and KYC requirements. The move to bolster the new customer verification procedure follows Finland’s Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) mandating supervision over exchange operations. Also read: Mineable Cryptocurrencies Are Far More Valuable Than Non-Mineable Coins…

  • How the World’s Leading Banks Help Launder $2 Trillion a Year

    How the World’s Leading Banks Help Launder $2 Trillion a Year

    Some of the most well known banks in the world are also the biggest money launderers. The recent Troika Laundromat affair added another $8 billion to the trillions financial institutions wash every year. Over $2 trillion is laundered annually by criminals who utilize various ways to hide money in banks, which are often complicit or…