FinCEN Rules Commodity-Backed Token Services are Money Transmitters
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a new ruling applicable to US businesses seeking to tokenize commodities for blockchain-based trading. Despite being a response to a specific inquiry by an unnamed company, the letter could be read as broadly applicable to startups seeking to both custody physical assets and issue a digital asset for use in trading. Under such business models, FinCEN suggests startups would need to be licensed in all 50 states. The letter describes the company behind the submission as one that provides an "Internet-based brokerage service" that....
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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....
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?
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....
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued new rulings indicating that digital currency-related cloud mining and escrow services should not be considered money transmitters. The two releases came via what appear to be responses to requests from businesses seeking to better understand FinCEN's policies. FinCEN, the bureau of the US treasury that collects and analyzes financial transactions, has previously released influential decisions regarding how consumer bitcoin miners and bitcoin investors should be regulated under money transmission laws. Published letter rulings....
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....