Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) has made clear that businesses engaging in certain activities involving virtual currencies are subject to registration, reporting, recordkeeping, and other anti-money laundering (“AML”) requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act and its implementing regulations (collectively, “BSA”). In response to recent developments in the field of financial technology (“fintech”), FinCEN has issued new guidance and advisories related specifically to activities involving virtual currencies and ransomware payments.

This article introduces FinCEN and the BSA, identifies AML risks associated with virtual currencies and ransomware that businesses may encounter in 2022 and beyond, and discusses best practices for navigating the complex and rapidly evolving BSA landscape.

On September 21, 2021, in a first-of-it-kind action, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) imposed economic sanctions on SUEX OTC, S.R.O. (“SUEX”), a virtual currency exchange,

Ransomware attacks have increased exponentially in recent years and COVID-19’s remote work policies only contributed to how successful bad actors are in perpetrating the attacks. If your company is not currently working towards increasing cybersecurity controls, it has never been a better moment to start doing so, especially if you deal with sensitive technologies or defense industries. In addition to the obvious business challenges companies face when dealing with a ransomware attack, there are several U.S. government laws, regulations, and implementing agencies that companies must be mindful of in the aftermath of an attack.