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…
I would like to address the issue of the privacy of cryptocurrency transactions, and the role of cryptocurrency tracing companies in helping the world of crypto become safer, more widespread, and more legitimate, while still preserving the privacy of individuals.…
If you travel a lot – especially during January 2020, which was National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month – you likely saw ads exhorting you to look out for evidence of human trafficking and report what you see to…
Some in the cryptocurrency community were caught off guard when the global financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), recently endorsed much tougher guidelines for monitoring and transferring virtual assets. Its “Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets…
SANCTIONS UPDATE: On August 21, 2019, the following individuals and their associated digital currency addresses have been added to OFAC's SDN List under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. YAN, Xiaobing (Chinese Traditional: 顏曉兵; Chinese Simplified: 颜晓兵) (a.k.a. "YAN, Steven"; a.k.a. "ZHOU,…
Governments have a new “travel rule” coming your way, and it has nothing to do with what you can put in your carry-on. In guidance released on June 21, 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) updated its recommendation regarding…
The recent hack of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, highlights the need for heightened security in the crypto space. In what Wired reported as “a ‘large-scale security breach,’ hackers stole not only 7,000 bitcoin—equivalent to over $40 million ($56…
In October 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) amended its Recommendation to clarify how the FATF standards apply to activities or operations involving virtual assets. Recently, FATF asked for consultation comments with regards to a draft “Interpretive Note to…
In light of recent events regarding the acquisition of blockchain analytics company Neutrino, CipherTrace wants to make our position about privacy and confidentiality clear. CipherTrace has received numerous inquiries from the media and customers regarding our privacy policies. On February…
This analysis by CipherTrace looks at Iran’s proposed Crypto-Rial sovereign virtual currency. We conclude that such a currency and the regulations that Iran is proposing, will in fact, result in a flourishing cryptocurrency — i.e., one that benefits the regime…