FinCEN Director: We're Not Out to Villainize Bitcoin
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has been to date one of the most active - and more controversial - US federal agencies to address the bitcoin ecosystem, doing so through a number of published rulings aiming to provide clarity to the industry. Founded in 1990, the US agency is responsible for collecting information about financial transactions that may be used to support money laundering, terrorist financing and financial crimes. FinCEN first addressed emerging virtual currencies in 2008 and has been simultaneously praised for engaging with the bitcoin ecosystem, while....
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The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has reportedly been working with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to develop bitcoin training programs for tax examiners. During a speech given today at the ABA/ABA Money Laundering Enforcement Conference in Washington, DC, FinCEN director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said that the agency, one of several in the US with jurisdiction over elements of the bitcoin ecosystem, recently collaborated with the IRS to educate its examiners on relevant aspects of the technology. She remarked: "IRS has an extensive training program for its examiners,....
CoinDesk: How does FinCEN research the bitcoin industry and keep track of developments with the technology? FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery: So, let me start historically, we can go even a little wider with virtual currency. I think we first really started thinking about virtual currency quite a while ago, and it was in response to working with our law enforcement partners and it was back in the days of E-gold and when virtual currencies were backed by a commodity. So, we came out with our first guidance on virtual currency in September in 2008, and again, it was based mostly on....