Crypto

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and four federal banking regulators proposed a rule on Wednesday that would require permitted payment stablecoin issuers to maintain customer identification programs under the GENIUS Act’s anti-money-laundering (AML) framework.

U.S. prosecutors have charged two men based in the Republic of Georgia with running AudiA6, a cryptocurrency money laundering service alleged to have processed more than $389 million, following a coordinated international takedown of the operation’s infrastructure.

The European Union has proposed a sweeping 21st package of sanctions against Russia, with a record-setting wave of bank listings at its core and new measures targeting cryptocurrency platforms, oil traders, and shadow fleet vessels.

Switzerland’s financial markets regulator published supplementary guidance on money laundering risk analysis Wednesday, flagging persistent weaknesses in how banks and other financial institutions define risk tolerance and assess inherent risks.

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written directly to Premier League football clubs warning that sponsorship arrangements with unauthorized cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms may expose them to criminal liability, money-laundering risks, and enforcement actions.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s largest digital asset exchange, accusing the platform of helping Tehran evade sanctions and facilitate terrorist financing and ransomware attacks. 

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is moving to vacate a $5 million enforcement settlement reached with cryptocurrency exchange Gemini under the Biden administration, following a lobbying campaign by founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.

A landmark public-private initiative convened by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Institute of International Finance will soon begin testing a tokenized payment platform for cross-border settlements across multiple currencies and jurisdictions. 

Mainstream cryptocurrency companies including Kraken, Gemini, and Cumberland DRW transferred billions of dollars in bitcoin to ATM operators that authorities have repeatedly accused of facilitating scams targeting elderly and vulnerable Americans.

The United Kingdom announced a new package of sanctions Tuesday targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and a Kremlin-backed shadow finance network known as A7 as part of an effort to close off payment routes used by Russia to sustain its war against Ukraine.