On November 23, 2021, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs sent a series of letters to prominent stablecoin issuers and cryptocurrency exchanges. Citing the recent President’s Working Group on Financial Markets report on stablecoins, the letters seek to clarify basic operational features of various stablecoins which the Committee believes is critical to improving its understanding of digital assets.
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Crypto Exchanges
Russia-Linked REvil Hackers and Their Affiliates Hit with Arrests by the U.S. and International Allies
On November 8, 2021, law enforcement agencies in both the United States and European Union announced that a series of actions, including a number of arrests, were taken against the Russia-linked ransomware group, “REvil.”…
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OFAC Designates Virtual Currency Exchange as Malicious Cyber Actor
On September 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued an Updated Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments on the sanctions risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments. OFAC, with assistance from the FBI, also designated SUEX OTC, S.R.O., as a malicious cyber actor, the first such sanctions designation against a virtual currency exchange.
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President Biden’s Proposal to Enhance Cryptocurrency Information Reporting Regime on Form 1099
On May 28, 2021, President Biden released some of the legislative items that would be added by his American Families Plan, which includes a provision that could impact tax information reporting for cryptocurrency asset exchanges and custodians. If enacted, this proposal could require substantial effort to implement and administer.
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New York Attorney General Announces Settlement with Bitfinex
As we previously reported, the New York Attorney General has been in protracted litigation with crypto exchange Bitfinex and affiliated stablecoin-issuer Tether. On February 23, 2021, the Attorney General announced a definitive settlement of the matter. The settlement cements the New York Attorney General’s intention aggressively to police the virtual currency marketplace using the expansive anti-fraud authority granted under the Martin Act…
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OCC Charters the First National Crypto Bank
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a conditional approval last week for Anchorage Digital Bank to become the first federally-chartered crypto bank.
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Wyoming Issues Second Crypto Bank Charter
Wyoming recently awarded its second special-purpose depository institution charter to Avanti Bank. Kraken was the first institution to receive the newly created SPDI charter in September. As Wyoming had likely hoped when it passed a flurry of blockchain legislation, it appears that it is starting to take hold as a digital-asset-friendly banking state.
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The First Cryptocurrency Bank
On Wednesday, September 16, 2020, the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken Financial became the first crypto company to obtain a bank charter.
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Appellate Court Greenlights NYAG’s Bitfinex Investigation
As we previously reported, for over a year the New York Attorney General has been seeking to enforce an investigative subpoena under New York’s expansive Martin Act against cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and its affiliated companies that issue the Tether stablecoin.
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The Crypto-Currency Act of 2020
On March 9, 2020, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 6154, the Crypto-Currency Act of 2020. The bill is the latest effort to provide federal oversight to the burgeoning market for crypto-assets.
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