FinCEN Clarifies that Virtual Currency Payment Systems and Trading Platforms Are Money Transmitters
FinCEN has released two new Virtual Currency Guidance notes today. FIN-2014-R011 and FIN-2014-R2012 both detail FinCEN's response to requests "for Administrative Ruling on the Application of FinCEN's Regulations to Virtual Currency" Trading Platforms and Payment Systems. FinCEN has clarified that both would require a money transmitter license under their federal rules. FinCEN's clarifications, presented by Jamal El-Hindi, the Associate Director of FinCEN's Policy Division, may be the precursor to a new wave of Bitcoin company crackdowns. Recently, the SEC revealed that there were ongoing....
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Washington D. C., 4/29/14, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the enforcement arm of the United States Treasury Department, has issued its most recent ruling related to Bitcoin. A concerned American miner sent a letter to FinCEN on 2/26/14 asking whether or not the rental of computer systems for mining virtual currency would make his company an “administrator” of virtual currency or a money transmitter under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The FinCEN ruling states that selling hashing power in timed contracts, which has become increasingly popular a la CEX.io, does not a money....
If there was any doubt about the fact as to whether or not FinCEN believes that digital currency payment processors in addition to exchange weren't money transmitters, there's now supreme clarity. This week, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released two administrative rules covering a number of topics related to bitcoin. You can read them below: FIN-2014-R012. Here's the second one: FIN-2014-R011. As expected, members of the community aren't exactly thrilled about the news, but clarity when it comes to these matters are certainly important. What do you make of it all?
FinCen has issued two basic administrative rulings over digital currencies. The first one relates to the application of FinCEN regulations to a virtual currency trading platform, while the second discusses the application of FinCEN regulations to a virtual currency payment system. In ruling FIN-2014-R011, FinCen states that any and all digital currency exchanges must become licensed as a money transmitter including: On the exchange you are buying/selling bitcoins. The exchange carries the burden of giving you legal tender or a different cryptocurrency. According to the FinCen, regulations....
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published two new rulings on 30th January that aim to bring clarity as to which players in the virtual currency space will fall under the Bank Secrecy Act's (BSA) definition of a money transmitter. FinCEN said that miners who mine virtual currency for their own use, as well as companies that purchase and sell convertible virtual currency solely as an investment aren't subject to this law. "The first ruling states that, to the extent a user creates or "mines" a convertible virtual currency solely for a user's own purposes, the user is not....
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has published a new Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) analysis and, notably, the bulletin covers bitcoin. FinCEN, which is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, has already weighed in on bitcoin in the past. In the last six months, it has ruled that bitcoin miners and investors, as well as cloud mining and escrow services built on the bitcoin protocol, are not money transmitters. FinCEN is tasked with policing financial transactions in the US and all money transmitters are expected to register with the bureau. This issue has....