Crypto Product News: BTC/ETH ETNs, Custody, Insurance, Tokenized Treasuries - The London Stock Exchange (LSE) recently published a market notice addressing applications for Bitcoin and Ether exchange traded notes (ETNs),...more
Oct 2023 This decision was announced on 27 October at the closing of the FATF’s plenary meetings in Paris, France. The FATF announcement confirmed that the Cayman Islands maintains a robust and effective anti-money...more
SWIFT Publishes Blockchain Pilot Findings; Firms Announce USDC Integrations - According to a recent press release, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) recently published a report with...more
Crypto Firms Expand Offerings in Stablecoins, Private Key Management - The issuer of the Pax Dollar (USDP) stablecoin recently announced that USDP is now available to all Mexican customers of a major Latin American online...more
U.S. Policy Developments - Since the fall of 2022, DOJ has made several policy pronouncements in connection with its efforts to combat corporate crime. While it remains to be seen how these policies will ultimately affect...more
Traditional Financial Firms Expand Reach into Cryptocurrency Sphere - Early this week, a major investment bank announced that it plans to launch a digital asset custody platform later this year. This announcement follows...more
Compliance teams looking to stay ahead of the changing landscape need to be up to date on the latest developments. Join us for Global Compliance Updates in collaboration with the DIFC Academy, on 2–3 November 2021. This...more
FDIC Appoints First Chief Innovation Officer - On February 16, 2021, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) appointed Sultan Meghji as the agency’s first Chief Innovation Officer. Meghji has been made responsible...more
Amidst its continued regulatory focus on money laundering and terrorist financing risks, the SFC seeks to clarify and consolidate guidance for licensed firms. On 18 September 2020, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures...more
“Front” Seafood Businesses Allegedly Hid the Proceeds From Smuggled Shark Fins and Marijuana Distribution - Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia unsealed an indictment returned in July,...more
Indictment Again Highlights the Role of Correspondent Banking in Money Laundering - On May 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) unsealed a 50-page indictment against 28 North Korean and 5 Chinese bankers...more
On January 29, 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released the results of a study which the GAO conducted on trade-based money laundering, or TBML, entitled “Countering Illicit Finance and Trade:...more
Blockchain Developments in Interbank Settlement, Capital Markets, Cryptocurrency Payments - According to reports this week, a major German bank has joined the emerging payments initiative, built on the Quorum blockchain, of...more
The European Union (“EU”) recently has grappled with a series of massive money laundering scandals and strategized about how to more effectively combat international money laundering and corruption. Generally, the EU has...more
U.S. Developments - SEC Remarks on International Virtual Currency Enforcement - On December 5, 2018, Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), gave a...more
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff made official statements regarding when a token may or may no longer be a security • The SEC continued to bring actions related to cryptocurrency offerings against...more
The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) recently released a special report on professional money launderers (“PMLs”) who provide money laundering expertise and services to their crime-committing clients. ...more
Over the past year, regulators continued to actively examine compliance, introduce new and heightened requirements, recalibrate global priorities, and aggressively pursue enforcement. This report reviews recent trends and...more
August was a busy month for the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Among other initiatives, FinCEN issued its long-awaited proposed regulations on customer due diligence (CDD)...more