When Payments Become Political Weapons of Mass Destruction
Executives at Visa and MasterCard awoke yesterday morning to learn that Vladimir Putin's Russia had passed legislation requiring foreign credit card brands to post $3.8 billion in total security collateral, the equivalent of two days'-worth of transactions processed in the country. After Russia reunified with (or annexed, depending on your point of view) Crimea, Visa and MasterCard complied with stringent White House sanctions and blocked transaction activity at several Russian banks. Both financial companies rightly feared a backlash from their actions. Under the new law which goes into....
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The redesignation of the crypto mixer essentially replaces the U.S. Treasury’s actions from August, establishing sanctions for its role in “enabling malicious cyber activities." The United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control, or OFAC, has amended the sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash in addition to including two individuals involved in “transportation and procurement activities” for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in its list of Specially Designated Nationals.In a Nov. 8 announcement, the Department of the Treasury said it had “delisted and....
PRESS RELEASE. NOWPayments presents a new feature for all the business-owners out there who would like to explore crypto payouts along with payments. With the mass payments solution, your cryptocurrency-savvy employees can receive their salaries in crypto. Set up a crypto payroll! Whether it’s affiliate rewards for your partners or commissions you need to send to the freelancers you hired – the efficient NOWPayments solution is perfect for these needs. Mass Payments can be beneficial for faucets, casinos, betting and e-gaming services and basically any type of projects dealing....
A recent series of busts has shaken the world of dark net weapons commerce. A six-month joint investigation between law enforcement in Australia and the United States, which involved law enforcement going undercover as weapons dealers, has resulted in 17 arrests internationally. In September 2014, the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) identified a 33-year-old US-based dark net seller of weapons to a "worldwide client base," according to a press release from the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The arrest came as the result of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service....
Is bitcoin really the preferred currency of terrorists? You might think so from reading some of the mainstream media headlines. But a recent intergovernmental study on terrorist financing paints a very different picture. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based, intergovernmental body that develops policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and financing of weapons of mass destruction, recently released a report called Emerging Terrorist Financing Risks. There is a small section in the report about virtual currency as a tool....
Evgeny Volovik is the head of the Information and Communication Department at Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service Resource Center. The Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) reports directly to the President of the Russian Federation and is a federal executive body responsible for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The agency also develops and implements state policies, assesses threats to national security arising from money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and develops measures to counter these....