Major U.S crypto firms are rallying against FinCEN’s proposed regulations that would force businesses operating with crypto to gather information on the identities of non-customer counterparties. A Jan. 4 letter from Jack Dorsey, CEO of financial services firm Square takes aim at the proposal for seeking to impose reporting obligations that go “far beyond what is required for cash transactions,” and that Sqaure would be expected to collect “unreliable data about people who have not opted into our service or signed up as our customers.” “Counterparty name and address collection/reporting should not be required for [virtual currency] CTRs or recordkeeping, …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not been kind to crypto in the past year. In March 2020, in the SEC v. Telegram case, the Commission won a worldwide injunction against the proposed issuance of Grams by Telegram, undoing years of innovative work even in the absence of any allegations of fraud. Then, on the last day of September 2020, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein dashed the hopes of Kik Interactive by ruling in favor of the SEC’s motion for summary judgment in SEC v. Kik Interactive, finding that Kik had sold securities when it issued its Kin crypto tokens. …

Hacked cryptocurrency exchange Exmo is not able to recover a large amount of stolen funds as hackers withdrew millions of dollars in crypto through the Poloniex crypto exchange. On Dec. 21, Exmo announced a major hack causing the platform to freeze all withdrawals from the exchange. The United Kingdom-based company now estimates total losses to stand at more than $10.5 million in various digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Zcash (ZEC). Exmo executives allege that as much as $4 million of totally stolen assets cannot be recovered due criminals withdrawing the funds …

A group of leading U.S. financial regulators has released a new statement on stablecoins. One of the headlining topics of crypto regulation news this year, stablecoins were the main topic of a Dec. 23 statement the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or PWG. The PWG includes representation from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The group's stated opinions were hardly revolutionary, mostly saying that stablecoin issuers would need to abide by all the typical rules of the road in terms of financial law. The regulators say that stablecoins need …

The unique power of blockchain and cryptocurrency can also be considered their weakness. Crypto users gain unparalleled privacy for financial transactions through a decentralized transactional system. Governments, however, demand transparency in financial transactions for legal concerns. This creates a paradox. People are less inclined to use financial instruments if, in doing so, they expose their money to the world. Conversely, there are a number of regulations requiring financial institutions to counteract terrorism and money laundering — serious concerns for many governments. The crux of the issue is that most public blockchains require a consensus of all participants to validate transactions. …

In a tweet Monday evening, President Trump announced the departure of William Barr from the office of Attorney General. The announcement comes the same day that the Electoral College convened and confirmed Joe Biden's victory in the November election. Barr, long one of Trump's most loyal allies, will be stepping down on December 23. Under Barr's leadership, the Department of Justice has ramped up its actions in crypto, including high-profile criminal charges against BitMEX's leadership and the release of a new framework for crypto enforcement in October. The latter half of this year has also seen the largest seizures of …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note Last week’s Law Decoded sounded the alarm on threats to self-custodial wallets in the U.S. in particular. While such concerns have continued to take shape, nothing concrete has emerged from the U.S. Treasury, which was at the heart of last week’s conversation. Though I don’t like to recycle themes, it seems a reasonable time to ask the question: What is a crypto wallet as far as a regulator is concerned? While many people access their crypto through custodial solutions …

French financial authorities are strengthening the country’s cryptocurrency regulations in a move to prevent illicit activities like money laundering and terrorism financing. On Dec. 9, several ministries in France jointly introduced an order aiming to prevent anonymous digital asset transactions by banning anonymous crypto accounts. The new regulatory effort is backed by French finance minister Bruno Le Maire, overseas minister Sébastien Lecornu and junior economy minister Olivier Dussopt. The order is pursuant to Article 203 of France’s PACTE law, which stands for the Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation. In the document, the ministries have admitted that digital assets …

Several members of Congress have voiced opposition to a rumored blockade on self-hosted crypto wallets in the works at the U.S. Treasury. In a Dec. 9 letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, four members of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus wanted answers for rumored Treasury rulemaking that would restrict self-hosted wallet usage in the U.S. The authors — Warren Davidson, Tom Emmer, Ted Budd and Scott Perry — argue that such limitations: "Would hinder American leadership and preclude meaningful participation in the technological innovation currently underway throughout the global financial system." Speaking to Cointelegraph, Davidson noted that Treasury rulemaking is likely …

Elliptic, a leading firm in blockchain analytics, has found major shifts in recent trends in illicit crypto use. Per the firm's study released Wednesday, the proportion of Bitcoin (BTC) transactions that the firm has linked to criminal activity is way down, certainly relative to its 2012 peak: Tom Robinson, Elliptic's chief scientist, explained to Cointelegraph that this is the result of many trends in crypto. These included heightened exchange compliance and law enforcement activity, as well as the growing force of analytics firms like Elliptic itself. Interestingly, Robinson also said general use has simply exploded: "Other crypto use-cases have exploded …

Mexican authorities report an increase in the use of crypto assets to launder funds by criminal syndicates in Latin America. In a Dec. 8 report from Reuters, the head of Mexico’s finance ministry’s financial intelligence unit, Santiago Nieto, described how cartels use crypto to launder money obtained in illicit activities. Neito asserts Latin cartels will typically deposit their ill-gotten gains into various bank accounts as sums of less than $7,500 — the threshold that would prompt banks to flag a transaction. The funds are then used to make a myriad of small quantities of Bitcoin (BTC), which can then be …

The crypto space is an incredible, albeit risky, learning environment. Its volatility serves as a dire warning to those who like to test how deep the pool is by jumping in headfirst. Old guards constantly warn newcomers: “Take it slow, learn the basics and stack sats.” Wealth, in this space, can appear and disappear in an instant. In 2018, many newcomers got their first taste of what a crypto winter feels like. This wasn’t the first time Bitcoin (BTC) crashed, and it won’t be the last. Despite being around for more than 10 years, the crypto space is still in …