Australian law enforcement arrested an unnamed 38-year-old Australian man for performing unregistered cryptocurrency transactions. The police department of Victoria announced on Nov. 12 that the man has been arrested at his address in the town of Cairnlea. The joint report from the Victoria Police and Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) reads: “Detectives from the E-Crime Squad have arrested a man today as part of an investigation into unregistered cryptocurrency transactions.” Money laundering accusations The Cairnlea resident is accused of violation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act of 2006 for providing an unregistered crypto exchange service and …

For better or for worse, the cryptocurrency space is coming of age. Since Bitcoin’s rise to mainstream prominence in 2015, there has been increasing recognition of digital assets from government agencies around the world. In turn, new regulations are being imposed to control the way cryptocurrency companies operate and do business globally. Most recently, the Financial Action Task Force issued new guidelines on how digital assets should be regulated. In order to raise awareness around these requirements, the blockchain security company CipherTrace hosted a conference and hackathon this week in San Francisco dedicated entirely to discussions on the FATF guidelines, …

American blockchain security firm CipherTrace will provide Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls for Binance Chain and its native asset Binance Coin (BNB). CipherTrace to increase AML checks on Binance Chain Binance Chain, a public blockchain of major crypto exchange Binance and the underlying blockchain for Binance DEX, is expected to improve its AML procedures through CipherTrace, Binance announced on Nov. 5. Specifically, CipherTrace will be providing Binance Chain with institutional-grade AML controls to increase adoption of the Binance Chain blockchain. Within the initiative, CipherTrace will enable global developers, investors and regulators to access the Binance Chain blockchain for discovering data such …

Calibra CEO David Marcus recently claimed that the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards of Libra — Facebook’s proposed stablecoin project — will be better than other payments networks. Citing statements from Marcus’ speech at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas, finance publication Finextra reports on Oct. 29 that he explained the nuances of the project during an interview. He said, ”I want to say that the efficacy of sanction enforcing can be much higher on Libra than other payments networks.” Marcus stated that the network’s underlying blockchain technology will allow regulators to better trace transactions and identify suspicious activities, adding: …

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has indicted Crypto Capital executive Oz Yosef on three criminal counts. An Oct. 23 court filing obtained by Cointelegraph confirmed that Oz Yosef has been indicted by U.S. authorities on conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Crypto Capital allegedly mislead Bitfinex The filing would appear to confirm allegations from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, which in a recent statement tried to establish itself as a victim of fraud regarding Crypto Capital — its former payments processor. On April 25, the New …

The German-speaking world has seen an array of crypto and blockchain-related developments over the past week, with the Federal Ministry of Finance concluding that cryptocurrencies are hardly involved in money laundering and terrorist financing (TF), Bitwala integrating a feature for automatically generating cryptocurrency tax reports, and the Graz startup Lab10 Collective developing a more energy-efficient blockchain. Below is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph auf Deutsch. Risk analysis by the Federal Ministry of Finance: Crypto is hardly involved in money laundering and terrorist financing Under the auspices of the Federal Ministry …

Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, the president of controversial Panama-based payments processor Crypto Capital tied to Bitfinex and other major cryptocurrency exchanges, was arrested by Polish authorities. According to local news outlet wPolityce’s report published on Oct. 24, he is suspected of money laundering and being involved in an international drug cartel. Laundering drug cartels’ money Per the article, Molina Lee was detained on the basis of an European Arrest Warrant issued by the prosecutor's office in Wrocław. His arrest is reportedly connected to $350 million that were seized by the Polish Ministry of Justice previously. Notably, these seized funds belonged …

After initially seeking to ban Bitcoin in 2013, Thailand has since developed a permissive regulatory apparatus for digital currencies and cryptocurrency fundraising methods. Thai financial services firm Seamico Securities recently announced that it has received approval from the country’s Securities and Investments Commission (SEC) to operate its subsidiary, SE Digital, as a regulated initial coin offering (ICO) portal. In doing so, SE Digital obtained permission to launch the first legitimate ICO in Thailand, with the company announcing that it hopes to raise between 2 billion and 3 billion Thai baht (between around $66 million and $99 million) through the token …

The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) crypto regulations will trigger a shift of criminal activity from Bitcoin (BTC) to privacy coins, it has been claimed. Criminals mostly use BTC and ETH to date David Jevans, CEO of major crypto transaction tracking firm CipherTrace, shared his remarks about criminal use of cryptocurrencies at a panel held by blockchain advocacy group, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, on Oct. 21. During the panel, Jevans claimed that well-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) are currently the most popular among criminal actors to date due to their good brand name and the ease …

The German Federal Ministry of Finance has expressed concerns about rising use of privacy tokens due to their association with criminal activities and difficulties in tracking them. Published on Oct. 19, the ministry’s “First Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing National Risk Assessment” for 2018-2019 provided analysis aimed at the identification of existing and future risks in the field of anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorism financing (TF) in Germany. Among other challenges, the report examines circulation of cryptocurrencies in the darknet for criminal purposes. Pseudo-anonymous vs. anonymous tokens The report marks a distinction between pseudo-anonymous and anonymous tokens, noting that pseudonymity …

Kathryn Haun — a general partner at Andreesen Horowitz and the Justice Department's prosecutor for the infamous Silk Road case —- says that the fiat-dominated financial system is inept at tackling the very thing it purports to worry about when it comes to crypto. In the traditional financial sector today, “99.9% of all money laundering crimes go unprosecuted,” she told anchor Kyle Bass, during an interview for Real Vision Classics on Oct. 22. “We’re kidding ourselves” As someone whose career involved the takedown of one of the highest-profile criminal rackets in crypto industry history and established the first-ever crypto task …

The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Director Kenneth Blanco spoke at the University of Georgetown where he made it clear that Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws apply to everyone. On Oct. 21, banking trade publication American Banker reported that Blanco said that fintech firms offering cryptocurrency users anonymity must comply with AML laws “just like everyone else.” Blanco highlights responsibilities and the Bank Secrecy Act Blanco seemed to direct his comments toward anonymous crypto payment systems that could conceal criminal activity and or enable users to anonymously engage in criminal behavior. The FinCEN head pointed in his speech to …