Nations should require enhanced scrutiny on digital currencies that aren't administered centrally and can be converted into cash, the world's top intergovernmental watchdog of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing risks said Friday. In a 24-page advisory, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said that decentralized currency platforms allow their users to transact anonymously and pose a "significant challenge" for investigators. The publicly available ledger of decentralized virtual currency transactions, or "blockchain," isn't always pegged to the identities of real end users, the group said. "The underlying protocols on which almost all decentralized virtual currency payment products and services are currently...
A Canadian proposal to regulate virtual currency firms as money services businesses but otherwise "tread lightly" with federal rules is a welcome approach, according to bank representatives and anti-money laundering consultants.
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