U.S. financial institutions should closely monitor federal efforts to obtain confidential data on cryptocurrency transactions for purposes of tax enforcement, a senior regulator advised. Federal courts over the past five years have granted the Internal Revenue Service approval to subpoena at least three major U.S. cryptocurrency platforms—Coinbase, Circle and Kraken—for records on all clients who bought or sold bitcoins or other digital tokens above certain amounts and during certain timeframes. The IRS previously served the same type of blanket subpoena, also known as a John Doe summons, on several U.S. lenders who provided correspondent accounts to offshore banks where the...
A pair of congressional reports on the financial crime risks associated with Bitcoin and other digital currency platforms are slated for publication in April, say sources.
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