anti-money laundering

US Congressman Beyer Introduces Crypto Bill With ‘Basic Protections’ For Investors

In brief A U.S. Congressman has introduced legislation surrounding the regulation of digital assets. The law would provide clarity on the roles of several regulatory authorities including the SEC and the CFTC. Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced legislation to regulate digital assets earlier this week. The legislation, titled the “Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act,” aims to protect consumers while simultaneously promoting financial innovation. “Unfortunately, the current digital asset market structure and regulatory framework is ambiguous and dangerous for investors and consumers. Digital asset holders have been subjected to

Malaysia Launches Enforcement Action Against ‘Illegally Operating’ Binance

In brief Malaysia's financial services regulator has taken enforcement action against Binance. The Securities Commission has said Binance is still operating illegally despite being listed on an alert list since July 2020. The Malaysia Securities Commission (SC) has today taken enforcement action against Binance for allegedly operating illegally in the country. The SC claims the crypto exchange is operating illegally as a Digital Asset Exchange, without the requisite registration requirements found in Sections 7(1) and 34(1) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.  “Accordingly, the SC has issued a public

Slow But Steady: FATF Review Highlights Crypto Exchanges’ Struggle to Meet AML Standards

In June 2019, the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) introduced its revised set of standards for virtual asset service providers. The document establishes the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements that regulated VASPs —  the term mainly referring to cryptocurrency trading platforms — must eventually implement in their day-to-day operations. The guidelines are framed as recommendations, and the FATF leaves it to the participating nations’ governments to develop their own regulations in accordance with suggested principles.The watchdog has also set a 12-month review timeframe to monitor the public and

Title Token for Blockchain Estate Registry, Part 3

The advantage of the cross-blockchain protocol for public registries is that it can unite any number of existing ledgers in one ecosystem and does not need to upgrade the protocols of such blockchains. In simple terms, the protocol works as an aggregator of tokens across blockchains. The protocol conceptually comprises two major elements:The format requirements for an entry by knowing the standard of a record, the user’s machine can automatically collect records from various ledgers in one bundle.The hook, which is the algorithm that scans blocks of ledgers and extracts

Crypto Payment Network Partners With ID Screening Service

Cryptocurrency network TemTum is partnering with identity verification service Shufti Pro to provide Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) screening services for its customers.As part of the partnership announced on April 7, Shufti Pro will verify TemTum clients'  KYC data including date of birth, addresses, names, document numbers, document issue dates and expiration dates.EU’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Initiative ComplianceThe partnership follows the adoption of the European Union's Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Initiative (5AMLD), which introduces new and, in some cases, tightened KYC measures on financial platforms — including cryptocurrency

Celsius Lists Libra Challenger for 9.9% Potential Interest

Crypto lending platform Celsius Network has listed startup Saga’s SGA stabilized asset, unlocking the potential for token holders to earn interest.  “Saga has partnered with leading cryptocurrency interest income platform, Celsius Network,” Saga founder Ido Sadeh Man told Cointelegraph.The collaboration and listing means “users can both preserve their assets’ value with SGA’s proven stabilization mechanism (the IMF's SDR, a basket of currencies designed to offset currency fluctuations), as well as earn attractive interest through the Celsius network,” Man explained. Saga does not call itself a "stablecoin"Although Saga touts SGA as a stable

FATF Grades U.S. Government on Crypto Regulation Enforcement 

The Financial Action Task Force, one of the most prominent Anti-Money Laundering (AML) enforcers in the world, has called out the United States government for being lax on policy enforcement. On March 31, the body published a report in which it explained that the United States is only “largely compliant” with its AML and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) regulations – especially when it comes to the issue of virtual currencies. Higher Awareness is Good, but Loophole Still Exist In the report, the FATF outlined the United States’ degree of compliance with the recommendations it issued last

Blockchain Head at European Commission Explains Usefulness of DLT

The head of the digital innovation and blockchain unit at the European Commission (EC), Pēteris Zilgalvis, explained the concise benefits of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in an interview to The Banker, a subsidiary of the Financial Times. In the interview, published on April 3, Zilgalvis talked about the benefits and challenges of the technology.According to him, blockchain provides a powerful framework for data sharing, something that can't be done by normal databases:“We think that it presents an excellent technology for situations where different stakeholders need to collaborate but, due to