On Feb. 6, the United States Department of the Treasury released a report under the headline “Study of the facilitation of money laundering and terror finance through the trade in works of art.” In fact, only a tiny fraction of the 40-page document is dedicated to the “Emerging Digital Art Market,” by which the department understands the market for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Still, even a brief mention of the emerging NFT space in this context can have major implications for the tone of the nascent regulatory debate with regard to the asset class. What the report said The overall …

Nonfungible tokens (NFT) have taken the world by storm, resulting in mainstream interest and greater adoption of cryptocurrency. According to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, NFT popularity skyrocketed in 2021. Chainalysis’ “NFT Market Report” shows a minimum of $44.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency sent to Ethereum smart contracts associated with NFT marketplaces and collections last year. The report notes that this number was $106 million in 2020. While impressive, increasing scams and fraudulent activities have infiltrated the NFT space. For instance, major NFT marketplace OpenSea recently announced that its free minting tool was prone to misuse. As a result, OpenSea shared …

The U.S. Department of the Treasury released a study on the high-value art market, highlighting the potential in the nonfungible tokens (NFT) space to conduct illicit money laundering or terror financing operations. The treasury’s “Study of the facilitation of money laundering and terror finance through the trade in works of art” suggested that the increasing use of art as an investment or financial asset could make the high-value art trades vulnerable to money laundering: “The emerging online art market may present new risks, depending on the structure and incentives of certain activity in this sector of the market (i.e., the …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are constantly in the news. NFT platforms are springing up like mushrooms and champions are emerging, such as OpenSea. It is a real platform economy that is emerging, like those in which YouTube or Booking.com gained a foothold. But it is a very young economy — one that is struggling to understand the legal issues that apply to it. Regulators are starting to take an interest in the subject, and there is risk of a backlash if the industry does not regulate itself quickly. And, as always, the first blows are expected east of the Atlantic. In …

In her monthly Expert Take column, Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA, covers the intersection between emerging technologies and sustainability, and provides the latest developments around taxes, AML/CFT regulations and legal issues affecting crypto and blockchain. Turkey — the cradle of civilization — is quietly digitizing despite its high-inflation economy, and the lira’s volatility might be correlated with the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). During the fourth quarter of 2021, the TRY/USD exchange rate crashed from 9 to 18.5 liras per dollar in the six weeks leading up to mid-December before strengthening to as high as …

Decentralized finance, known as DeFi, is a new use of blockchain technology that is growing rapidly, with over $237 billion in value locked up in DeFi projects as of January 2022. Regulators are aware of this phenomenon and are beginning to act to regulate it. In this article, we briefly review the fundamentals and risks of DeFi before presenting the regulatory context. The fundamentals of DeFi DeFi is a set of alternative financial systems based on the blockchain that allows for more advanced financial operations than the simple transfer of value, such as currency exchange, lending or borrowing, in a …

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” — Plato The above quote has withstood the test of time. Across industries, markets, communities and ideas, people ultimately will find a way to either do good or at worse, wrong. Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto are certainly no exception to the rule. The industry is exploding — overflowing even — with endless drops, jaw-dropping floor prices and adoption across ever-expanding corners of culture. NFTs are moving forward at breakneck speed, and the money is there. According to …

Major South Korean crypto exchanges including Upbit, Bithumb and Korbit will follow Coinone's lead in banning transfers to non-verified wallets, industry analysts say. Yesterday Coinone announced that it would reject deposits from unverified private wallets starting Jan. 24 to reduce the risk of money laundering. All Korean exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit and 20 others, are expected to implement similar or identical measures as Coinone by or before March 25. The Korean government set the deadline for exchanges to track coin transactions on and off their platforms accurately. Korean blockchain industry analyst Jun Hyuk Ahn told Cointelegraph, “Korean exchanges are …

South Korean crypto exchange Coinone has announced it plans to no longer allow withdrawals of tokens to unverified external wallets starting in January. In a Wednesday announcement, Coinone said users would have from Dec. 30 to Jan. 23 to register their external wallets at the exchange, after which time it would restrict withdrawals. The exchange specified that crypto users could only register their own wallets, and the verification process “may take some time” and could change in the future. According to Coinone, it planned to verify users’ names and resident registration numbers — issued to all residents of South Korea …

The Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), which serves as Turkey’s financial intelligence unit under the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, found crypto exchange Binance’s Turkey operations guilty of violating laws that intend to prevent the laundering of money acquired through criminal means. According to local news media Anadolu Agency, MASAK carried out an audit of Law No. 5549 on Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime, also known as the AML Law. The AML Law in Turkey requires companies to identify and verify the personal identification information of the customers on the platform, which includes details such as surname, date of …

Cyprus is moving to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, with the country’s finance ministry releasing a national risk assessment on crypto. Published on Dec. 13, the official documentation provides a risk assessment for the Republic of Cyprus regarding money laundering risks related to virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The Ministry of Finance of Cyprus stressed that there is a “limited direct understanding or experience” regarding money laundering risks of crypto in the country. However, authorities like Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and local enforcement authorities have demonstrated a “sophisticated level of understanding of the sector,” the …

Each year that we get a little further away from Satoshi Nakomoto’s whitepaper, crypto becomes more popular than ever, breaking more barriers — not just in sheer enthusiasm, but in mainstream acceptance. From nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to the Metaverse, 2021 was the year of crypto, even following a decade where just about every other year could make the same claim. Despite that peak enthusiasm and excitement though, we shouldn’t be blind to the fact that there are still fundamental issues that must be solved before crypto truly becomes the dominant “coin of the realm” across the globe, along with the …