The changes brought about by 6AMLD will affect a lot of businesses, but there is still time to prepare for new rules. In January 2020, the European Union released its Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive to increase transparency while tackling fraud, money laundering and cybercrimes. The 5AMLD extended the scope of customer due diligence checks, introduced…
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The hire comes after BitMEX’s founders were charged with failing to prevent money laundering and operating an unregistered trading platform illegally in the United States. The operator of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, 100x Group, has hired a seasoned Anti-Money Laundering (AML) specialist, Malcolm Wright, as its chief compliance officer. In an announcement on Oct. 12,…
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More regulation is coming, and it will be costly, but compliance can also expand an exchange’s customer base. Crypto intelligence firm CipherTrace released a study on Oct. 1 reporting that more than half of the world’s cryptocurrency exchanges had deficient customer identification processes in place against money laundering. On the same day, the United States…
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October has been a dramatic month for the top brass of BitMEX crypto derivatives exchange, whose founders face multiple charges from U.S. authorities. BitMEX’s co-founder and former chief technical officer, Samuel Reed, has signed a $5 million unsecured appearance bond for his release from custody pending court proceedings. Reed had been arrested by the United…
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BitMEX’s operator has allocated new leadership roles with immediate effect. The operator of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has announced a sweep of its top leadership, after United States authorities charged its founders with failing to prevent money laundering and operating an unregistered trading platform illegally. On Oct. 8, BitMEX’s operator, 100x Group, announced that the exchange’s three co-founders, all…
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Is regulation plausible in a completely decentralized environment? Blockchain analytics company Coinfirm recently unveiled a new anti-money laundering tool for the decentralized finance, or DeFi, niche of the crypto space — a sector facing regulatory crackdown on the horizon, according to Jakub Fijolek, Coinfirm’s chief technology officer. “DeFi might soon have some regulatory issues,” Fijolek…
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The end of the U.S. federal government’s fiscal year brought a cascade of major announcements from agencies. Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note In a tweet late last night, President Trump said that he and Melania had tested positive for…
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Despite criminal charges from the DOJ and at least one arrest of its leadership, Bitmex promises to continue operating as usual. In a blog post published Thursday afternoon, Bitmex lashed out at charges that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Department of Justice filed against the exchange and its management earlier today. Bitmex’s statement claimed that “From our early days…
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FinCEN has warned U.S. banks that it is closely watching how they respond to crypto risk exposure with their AML programs. The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) director Kenneth Blanco has warned banks to think seriously about their cryptocurrency risk exposure. During the virtual 2020 ACAMS anti-money laundering Conference in Las Vegas this week,…
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The leaked documents show many banks ‘enabling’ money laundering. Leaked documents from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) imply that the agency’s revamped efforts to identify illicit transactions and money laundering may not be sufficient. But on this occasion, the institutions described as being at fault are not crypto exchanges, but some of the…
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