Easy come, easy go. On January 29, 2024, OFAC published General License 43A under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, which partially rolled back a piece of the sanctions relief it provided to the country only a few months...more
On December 23, 2023, BarnBridge DAO (“BarnBridge”) and its founders, Tayler Ward and Troy Murray, agreed to settle charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). BarnBridge violated Sections5(a) and 5(c)...more
2/1/2024
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investment Products ,
Popular ,
Securities Act ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Structured Financial Products
On December 13, 2023, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced an enforcement action against CoinList Markets LLC (“CoinList”) for violations of the Ukraine-/Russia-Related...more
12/19/2023
/ Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Crimea ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Know Your Customers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Sanction Violations ,
Ukraine ,
White Collar Crimes
On November 21, 2023, The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced settlement agreements with Binance Holdings Limited (“Binance”), the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Changpeng Zhao (affectionally known as...more
12/12/2023
/ BSA/AML ,
CFTC ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Guilty Pleas ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Money Transmitter ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Settlement ,
Statutory Violations
On November 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought charges against cryptocurrency project SafeMoon LLC and its U.S. subsidiary SafeMoon US LLC, along with...more
11/17/2023
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
On June 6, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) officially filed suit against Coinbase, Inc. (“Coinbase”) alleging the company operated as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing...more
On Wednesday, January 18, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) unsealed a criminal complaint in the Eastern District of New York charging Russian-national Anatoly Legkodymov, a senior executive at Bitzlato Ltd....more
On top of all the legal trouble for FTX’s founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”), the company has also filed for bankruptcy and SBF has been ousted as CEO. John J. Ray III, an attorney and bankruptcy professional, has...more
12/22/2022
/ Books & Records ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Disbursement Issues ,
Financial Statements ,
Internal Controls ,
Investment ,
Popular ,
Trading Platforms
Continuing with both its crackdown on cybercriminals and illicit digital marketplaces, along with its continued economic pressure on the Russian Federation, OFAC has sanctioned two entities that fit both criteria. On April...more
4/13/2022
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Exchange ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Darknet ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Military Conflict ,
Money Services Business ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Russia ,
Ukraine ,
Virtual Currency
Ransomware attacks are on the rise and companies everywhere should be taking action to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses and resiliency to ensure their internal systems are able to withstand cybercrime attacks. ...more
In early October, OFAC released a guidance brochure on sanctions compliance, specifically tailored for the cryptocurrency and virtual assets industry. For seasoned compliance veterans, it ends up reading like a refresher...more
The crypto industry is abuzz with a recent scandal involving OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace in the industry (for those not in the know, NFT stands for non-fungible token, and the most common use case at the moment is to...more
On Friday March 12, Bloomberg News reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) has opened an inquiry into Binance Holdings Ltd. (“Binance”) to investigate allegations that the exchange allowed US citizens...more
3/16/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investigations ,
Know Your Customers ,
Popular ,
Trading Platforms ,
Virtual Currency
Following the SEC’s December filing, Ripple Labs, Inc. has now responded and taken its first steps to defend itself against the allegations. Ripple’s first move was to file FOIA request with the SEC to obtain the information...more
In December 2020, three days before Christmas, the SEC filed a significant case against Ripple, the major cryptocurrency company. Ripple is a major cryptocurrency company, utilizing the technology to create a global digital...more
1/13/2021
/ Accredited Investors ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Offering Fraud ,
Popular ,
Ripple ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Unregistered Securities
DOJ’s Cyber Digital Task Force’s report, “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework,” provides a comprehensive on the growing partnerships between DOJ and other offices within the executive branch....more
11/3/2020
/ BitMEX ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
IRS ,
Know Your Customers ,
Money Laundering ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency ,
White Collar Crimes
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), through its Cyber Digital Task Force (hereinafter the “Task Force”), published its 83-page crypto guidance report titled “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework.”...more
11/3/2020
/ CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Action Task Force ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
IRS ,
Mail Fraud ,
Money Laundering ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wire Fraud
As we have continued with our cryptocurrency posts, we are often asked questions about the foundational elements of the technology behind cryptocurrency. This is not surprising really, it’s a new technology that’s still...more
A few days ago, Congress released its 2018 Joint Economic Report. As many of you know, the Joint Economic Committee prepares this report as a national assessment of the country’s economic status. The report often assesses...more
3/22/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Congressional Reports ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Innovation ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency