The U.S. Justice Department's use of deferred prosecution agreements has been effective though often misunderstood, according to Jonathan E. Lopez, a former deputy chief of the department's Money Laundering and Bank Integrity Unit who oversaw investigations into HSBC and MoneyGram.
New York gave a Bitcoin company the green light to operate under state regulations Thursday, in what may be the first in a series of charters intended to mitigate concerns about virtual currencies.
For all of the rhetoric to the contrary, virtual currencies may turn out to be a tempest in a teapot, at least for money laundering investigators, according to Jeffrey Robinson, author of "Bitcon: The Naked Truth About Bitcoin."
Love or hate New Yorks plans to shield Bitcoin and its competitors from financial crooks, one thing is certain: the proposal is only the first of dozens that will shape the industry.
Virtual currency businesses operating in New York may soon have to obtain special licenses and establish anti-money laundering, cyber security and consumer protection programs, the state's banking regulator announced Thursday.
New York should require some digital currency companies to collect and periodically verify customer information to deter financial criminals, Manhattan's district attorney told state regulators Wednesday.
With greater regulatory clarity, U.S. banks would embrace the digital currency companies they currently turn away due to compliance concerns, Bitcoin investors told New York State regulatory officials Tuesday.
Turned away by American banks, some U.S.-based digital currency companies are using foreign bank accounts to send their proceeds back into the United States to pay employees and clients.
U.S. officials have sent formal warning letters to a number of virtual currency firms it suspects have failed to register as money services businesses, the head of the nation's financial intelligence unit said Tuesday.
When FinCEN issued its innocuously entitled guidance, "Application of FinCEN's Regulations to Persons Administering, Exchanging, or Using Virtual Currencies" in March, an already speculative currency may have received its death blow.