In a recent ruling, a California federal judge held that Kraken, an online cryptocurrency exchange program, has to turn over user information to the IRS as a result of a John Doe summons originally served on Kraken in 2021....more
The consent order issued by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to crypto asset exchange, Coinbase, serves as a reminder of regulators’ growing interest in ensuring that crypto asset companies meet their...more
The IRS knows it has a problem, in that it knows there are far more cryptocurrency transactions than are being reported on tax returns. The IRS may also get an $80 billion increase in funding for enforcement that will help...more
The answer to the question: “Is your Crypto in a Personal Wallet or in an Exchange?” matters as we have learned that cryptocurrency held in a Crypto Exchange is NOT the same as cryptocurrency held in a Personal Wallet in...more
On September 21, 2021, the US Department of the Treasury took actions in response to the increasing prevalence and severity of ransomware attacks in the United States and address the central role that virtual currency and...more
A recent federal criminal action shows the depth of the U.S. government’s concern about the use of cryptocurrency (or virtual currency) to violate economic sanctions laws and the lengths to which it will go to charge such...more
With the emergence of digital assets, the question has arisen whether digital assets held in “wallets” in foreign exchanges need to be reported on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign...more
Uber reported another quarter of billion+ dollar losses, but as so many things on Wall Street & Silicon Valley tend to go, the news wasn’t all bad because those numbers were far better than the $5.2 billion it lost in Q2....more
The New York Department of Financial Services virtual currency license is back in the spotlight after NYDFS announced that it had rejected the application of Bittrex Inc., a virtual currency exchange, to conduct virtual...more
QuadrigaCX, one of the largest Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges, recently left users in the lurch when it took its website offline and filed for creditor protection in Nova Scotia. ...more
As part of its Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative, on September 18, 2018, the New York Attorney General’s Office issued a report reviewing the platforms of various cryptocurrency exchanges. ...more
Amid concerns that many investors may not fully understand the risks associated with virtual currencies, or the limits of regulatory oversight, the National Futures Association (NFA) recently issued an interpretive notice...more
The proper use of social media, blogging, cloud computing, and crowdfunding are just a few of the ever-growing tech-related issues that have ethical implications for attorneys. We must add to the list the cryptocurrency...more
Law Firms, like other businesses, want to be able to offer more services to more clients expanding; the scope of their reach. This might entail entering the world of Virtual Currency (VC) and accepting payments such as...more
For those still new to the sector, Coinbase has established itself as one of (if not the) most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the U.S. Coinbase, to the delight of compliance officers everywhere, has been...more
Bithumb, ranked the seventh largest cryptocurrency exchange and located in South Korea, has confirmed that it was hacked and that the thieves absconded with approximately $32 million in coins, including the XRP token issued...more
Bitfinex, a global digital currency exchange, paused trading last week when it experienced a distributed denial-of-service attack. During the pause in trading, it announced to users that “Bitfinex is currently under extreme...more
On April 19, 2018, the European Parliament (“EP”) adopted the European Commission’s (the “Commission”) proposal for a Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (“AMLD5”) to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering through...more
Recently, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman launched the state’s Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative in order to garner more information and gain insight into the inner workings of cryptocurrency exchanges. ...more
• Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, recently approached the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about possible licensing as a broker-dealer. If Coinbase decides to register with the SEC, it will...more
Australia announced on April 11 that all digital currency exchanges operating in the country will be regulated by the Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (“AUSTRAC”), the country’s financial intelligence agency. ...more
On Friday, Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange, notified approximately 13,000 of its customers that it would be turning over their account information to the Internal Revenue Service within 21 days. This...more
NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange is looking to do the as-yet inconceivable: bring some order to cryptocurrencies. The plan, announced yesterday, is to launch a data feed that pull info from cryptocurrency exchanges around...more
Last week, a federal magistrate judge in the Northern District of California granted in part and denied in part a motion by the IRS to enforce a “John Doe” summons served on Coinbase, Inc., which operates a virtual currency...more
On July 27, 2017, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for the Department of Treasury (FinCEN) seized the website of the digital currency exchange BTC-e for allegedly operating a multi-billion dollar money laundering...more