The Justice Insiders Podcast - The Ever-Expanding Net: Corporate Compliance in an Era of Increasing Trade Sanctions and Restrictions
Understanding the Additional Risks When Making a Ransomware Payment
WorldSmart: The Extraordinary Sanctions Against Russia - What Happens Next?
BSA, OFAC, KYC, and CIP – What do they mean to me? [More with McGlinchey, Ep. 29]
Compliance Perspectives: Sanctions, Data and Vetting Third Parties
FINCast Ep. 19 - The DPRK Sanctions Program
Episode 118 -- Update on OFAC Enforcement and Lessons Learned
Digital Asset Companies Achieve Licenses, Launch Stablecoin Products - According to a recent press release, Anchorage Digital, a digital asset platform and infrastructure provider, announced that the New York State...more
The Fifth Circuit held that Tornado Cash, open-source computer code known as an immutable “smart contract”, is not “property” and thus cannot be subject to blocking sanctions pursuant to IEEPA and EO 13694....more
On November 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded a decision by the district court regarding the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) designation of a virtual currency mixer software...more
In a closely watched and complicated case, Van Loon et al. v. Dep’t of the Treasury et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) cannot sanction Tornado...more
Crypto Firms Continue to Launch New Initiatives Across Markets - In a recent press release, digital asset infrastructure firm Fireblocks announced its acquisition of BlockFold, “a smart contract development and...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 11, 2022, announced a more than $24.28 million settlement with Bittrex Inc. (Bittrex), a Bellevue, Washington-based company that offers...more
Last month, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) sanctioned Tornado Cash, a virtual currency “mixer” operating on the Ethereum blockchain which allegedly has been used to launder the virtual currency equivalent of...more
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently made the unprecedented move of sanctioning a smart contract — a decentralized digital currency mixer called “Tornado Cash” — along with certain cryptocurrency addresses...more
On May 6, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated a cryptocurrency mixer, Blender.io, as a Specially Designated National (SDN). That sanction follows a series of enforcements and...more
On April 28, 2022, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued guidance on the use of blockchain analytics for virtual currency businesses licensed under 23 NYCRR part 200 (also known as a BitLicense) or...more
On February 25, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued Guidance to all individuals and entities subject to its regulation due to the rapidly evolving situation in Ukraine, following the Russian...more
New Crypto Payment Products Launch, Report Cites Exchange Consolidation - This week, a major U.S. financial services firm announced its partnership with three leading cryptocurrency service providers in the Asia Pacific...more
On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued detailed guidance to the virtual currency industry, putting virtual currency companies on notice of the ways OFAC...more
In a new Sanctions Compliance Guide, The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury reiterates that compliance obligations apply equally to transactions involving virtual currencies and those involving...more
On Oct. 15, 2021, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published sanctions compliance guidance for the virtual currency industry. OFAC acknowledged that virtual currencies are playing an...more
The DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and Treasury’s OFAC are setting their sights on cryptocurrency use in cybercrimes. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is sharpening its focus on combatting...more
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently issued Sanctions Compliance Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry. The guidance published on October 15, 2021, outlines OFAC’s...more
On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released guidance on sanctions compliance for the digital currency industry, the agency’s most detailed guidance to date on...more
On September 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced several actions focused on disrupting criminal digital finance infrastructure, including virtual currency...more
On September 21, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) levied its first sanctions against a Russian-operated virtual currency exchange involved in ransomware payments and published an...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
Stepping outside of SWIFT - Since its inception more than a decade ago, cryptocurrency has been viewed as a way to supplant traditional global methods of exchanging money. Today, as virtual currencies proliferate,...more
For years, regulators around the world have struggled with whether and how to police the offering and exchange of digital assets (including virtual currencies such as Bitcoin). In the United States, such efforts were stymied...more
As part of the ongoing efforts of the federal government, agencies and financial market regulators to respond to the growing cryptocurrency market, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) of the Department of Treasury...more
A lot of us in the sanctions compliance world were wondering whether and when OFAC would issue official guidance on its application of sanctions in the digital currency world. On March 18, OFAC issued five FAQs related to...more