The cryptocurrency world endured a turbulent spring in 2022. Markets were highly unpredictable, and by July the market capitalization had shed over 50 percent of its value since the start of 2021. Virtual asset prices also took a substantial hit. In CipherTrace’s latest Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Report, we look back at those volatile…
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The last seven months have been thrilling for us. In October 2021, Mastercard acquired CipherTrace. Together, we’ve been accelerating our efforts to ensure that the crypto economy is instilled with the same trust and peace of mind that consumers currently experience with more traditional payment methods. Now that we’re part of the Mastercard family, we…
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The crypto revolution is transforming traditional finance systems by increasing access to financial services, accelerating transfers and bringing transparency and auditability to finance transactions. These are amazing enhancements. To sustain the viability of this new, decentralized digital economy, it is important to prevent bad actors using cryptocurrencies to fund violence and inflict harm. Blockchain analytics…
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On April 13, 2021, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Blockchain/Distributed Ledger Working Group released the Crypto-Asset Exchange Security Guidelines—a set of guidelines and best practices for crypto-asset exchange (CaE) security. The set of guidelines were created to help educate users, policymakers, and cybersecurity professionals on the pros and cons of further securing Virtual Asset Service…
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November 20, 2020 CipherTrace has filed their second Monero tracing patent application— Techniques and Probabilistic Methods for Tracing Monero. This follows on their first patent application Systems and Methods for Investigating Monero. These patents cover: Forensic tools to explore Monero transaction flows to assist in financial investigations. Development of original tracing methodologies based on simulation…
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On October 1, the US Department of Justice announced the indictment of four BitMEX executives, charging the group with violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and conspiring to violate the BSA by “willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (“AML”) program.” On the same day, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action charging five entities…
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Taking center stage in a key-note address at the virtual 2020 ACAMS Las Vegas Conference, FinCEN Director Kenneth A. Blanco clarified a long-standing confusion banks have had regarding their exposure to cryptocurrencies and the steps they must take the mitigate these risks. Director Blanco said that FinCEN continues to focus its efforts on a number…
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