Tweet Bitcoin hits the news related to ISIS There were two Bitcoin stories today in the US media with an ISIS connection, raising alarm bells regarding the potential use of digital currencies for terrorist financing. The first story was that a teenager in Virginia had been arrested by the FBI for allegedly facilitating a person […]
Tweet In a report released yesterday on serious organized crime called “Exploring Tomorrow’s Organized Crime” (the “Report“), Europol found that organized crime is now becoming a virtual activity over the Internet and as a result, transnational criminal organizations (“TCO“) are migrating towards virtual payment methods to conduct commercial affairs, including digital payments. According to Europol, […]
Tweet Are Bitcoin Exchanges MSBs? The Québec Government’s Authorité des Marchés Financiers (the “AMF“) today issued a News Release announcing that businesses that operate digital currency ATMs and “platforms for trading virtual currencies” must be licensed by the AMF as money services businesses (“MSB“) pursuant to the provincial Money Services Business Act (the “Act“). It also issued […]
Tweet Consensus on Supranational Risk Assessment As part of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive approval process in the European Union (the “4th AMLD“), the Council of the European Union’s President yesterday issued declarations and proposals for the regulation of anonymous financial transactions that are transacted on new fintech products. The communication from the President included […]
Tweet US cross-border drug strategy to cover new ground in British Columbia Let’s Talk Bitcoin has an interesting article here on the US drug initiative to reduce the cross-border drug trade between Canada and the US with a focus on targeting the use of Bitcoin and other digital currencies for laundering proceeds of crime. The […]
Tweet New Bitcoin Law At the end of this week, the Parliament of Canada approved what is likely the world’s first national Bitcoin law, and certainly the world’s first treatment in law of Bitcoin under national anti-money laundering law. Late Thursday, Canada’s Governor General gave Royal Assent to Bill C-31, An Act to Implement Certain Provisions of the […]
Tweet The ACAMS 2nd Annual AML & Financial Crime Conference Canada in Toronto on June 9-10, 2014 has an interesting and exciting list of speakers and topics. Highlights of this year’s program include: Corruption Presentation – Interpol’s Michel Girodo. Critical Guidance on Anti-Money Laundering Laws – Jamal El-Hindi, Associate Director, Policy Division, FinCEN. Anti-Bribery Update […]
Tweet Bitcoin’s disruptive technology will force banks to change and adapt but some issues identified including regulatory arbitrage and consumer protection The Board of Governors for the US Federal Reserve published minutes of their recent meeting on a wide-range of economic issues, including Bitcoin. Positive Aspects The Board noted several important and positive aspects of Bitcoin, namely: Bitcoin will […]
Tweet We are participating in three sessions on digital currencies (and Bitcoin) in Amsterdam this month for those interested in joining: At the Bitcoin Foundation Conference on May 16, 2014 on a panel discussing anti-money laundering chaired by Adam Shapiro, Director of Promontory Financial Group with: Dirk Haubrich, Head of Consumer Protection and Financial Innovation […]
Tweet According to a report released by McAfee Labs, available here entitled “Jackpot! Money Laundering Through Online Gambling,” the global online gambling sector appears to be rife with money laundering problems and Bitcoin is facilitating it. It may be that money laundering is happening on a large scale through unlicensed online gambling websites but the report […]