As Hong Kong eagerly anticipates the release of the Financial Action Task Force’s (“FATF”) mutual evaluation report (“MER”), discussed at last month’s FATF Plenary, we decided the timing was right to take a quick look at the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW AND WHY of...
The United States (“US”) government has continued its drive to regulate virtual currencies through the first half of 2019. Its chief tools have been: the introduction of new FinCEN guidance; and sanctions and enforcement action targeting foreign financial institutions...
Virtual asset adoption within traditional finance can only occur with clear regulation. A major piece of this puzzle is anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (“AML/CTF”) obligations. Without clear rules, many banks struggle to open accounts for...
The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has, for the first time, listed two Bitcoin addresses (“Addresses”) as identifiers on its Specially Designated and Blocked Persons (“SDN”) list. The Addresses are associated with...