US Regulators’ One-Two Punch: SEC Probes Crowdsales, FinCEN Takes Aim at Exchanges
In the last 24 hours, a couple of developments coming out of the US have shaken up American cryptocurrency communities. First, the US Securities Exchange Commission has sent out letters to possibly hundreds of crypto-companies asking them to voluntarily hand over documents relating to their crowdsales. The SEC is clearly concerned with whether such crowdsales run afoul of the commission’s regulations, and there is a gag order attached to these requests for voluntary cooperation. Second, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has offered a little clarity on its position regarding....
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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced that it will soon propose new regulation affecting cryptocurrency holdings at foreign exchanges. This proposal is separate from the one FinCEN recently proposed on cryptocurrency wallets. FinCEN’s New Crypto Rules FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, issued a notice on Thursday regarding a new filing requirement for cryptocurrencies. FinCEN detailed: Currently, the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) regulations do not define a foreign account holding virtual currency as a type of....
For many entrepreneurs, one of the most compelling use cases of blockchain technology is the potential for it to enable new marketplaces that remove traditional hurdles associated with investing and crowdfunding. The growing number of public crowdsales has been widely covered as of late. With these crowdsales, companies sell a branded bitcoin fork as a way to finance the early development of cryptocurrency-related projects. The popularity of many of the early crowdsales has sparked a conversation about where the burden of consumer protection lies. It appears that burden, at least for the....
Cryptocurrency crowdsales, or Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), can be a contentious subject. But there are a lot of ICOs on the crypto-landscape lately. Many exist on larger platforms, such as Bitshares and Ethereum. Crowdsales & ICOs Are Growing More Popular. Lately, in the cryptocurrency news cycle, all you hear about is some new ICO or crowdsale....
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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released new guidance for custodial bitcoin exchanges and payment processors, ruling that such companies may be considered money services businesses under US law. In a response to twin letters submitted in late 2013, the chief US money laundering and terrorist financing regulator explained that bitcoin exchanges may be money transmitters, even if they only match buyers and sellers on their platform. Further, the letters suggest this is true, even if the exchanges behave more like traditional securities or commodities exchanges, where no....