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May 2019

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During a speech at Consenus 2019, Sigal Mandelker, the U.S. Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, reiterated the projection that the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) will adopt international standards for cryptocurrency-based services in June 2019.  FATF (also known by its French name, Groupe d’action financière) is an independent inter-governmental body that develops global standards for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing. In 2014 and 2015 FATF began expressing concerns that the potential benefits…

On April 21, 2019, the English High Court ruled that it would have jurisdiction to hear the case of Ramona ANG v Reliantco Investments Ltd, following its determination that speculative investments, in this case Bitcoin futures, are not inherently a business activity. Therefore, the protections afforded to consumers under EU law (the Brussels Regulation (Recast) No 12/5/2012 (the “Regulation”) to bring claims via the courts in their own jurisdictions could apply to individual investors using…

We previously reported that, in November 2018, in a first of its kind case, the SEC charged  celebrities DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather with touting violations involving ICOs. Without admitting or denying the findings, Mayweather and Khaled agreed to pay disgorgement, penalties and interest.  One of the ICOs that they touted was Centra Tech.  They were also sued for securities law violations in a civil case brought by Centra Tech investors. The case was based on…

On May 9, 2019, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance on the application of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regulations, specifically those regulations applicable to money services businesses (MSBs), to certain business models involving the transmission of convertible virtual currencies (CVCs) (the “Guidance”).  The Guidance follows previous interpretive guidance issued by FinCEN in 2013 relating to transactions involving the acceptance of currency or funds and the transmission of CVC. Also on May 9,…