fincen

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury released an analysis and alert on Thursday, linking approximately $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activities to cryptocurrency investment scams operated by Southeast Asian parks. About 1,300 institutions submitted 33,904 suspicious activity reports covering the period from September 2023 to December 2025. Cryptocurrency-focused money service businesses submitted 55% of the reports, involving $5.5 billion; banks submitted 41%, involving $6.4 billion; and securities firms accounted for the remaining $784.5 million.The number of reports has been growing at an average monthly rate of 10.9%, with the amount involved increasing by 18%. Scammers used at least 22 types of digital assets, with Ethereum, USDT, and USDC being the most common. On-chain analysis shows that regardless of the asset victims initially purchased, the funds are almost always converted into stablecoins, with nearly all converted to USDT, and then transferred through DeFi protocols or exchanges outside the U.S. Scammers also reused collection addresses across multiple victims, which is one way some institutions identified this pattern.The report indicates that about 25% involved elderly individuals, which is comparable to the 24.4% of the population that is over 60 years old, leading FinCEN to conclude that the elderly are not disproportionately targeted. The FBI estimates that in 2024, the U.S. population over 60 lost $4.8 billion to scams. These parks are primarily located in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, and U.S. authorities have seized over $25 million related to the associated scams this year.

The Bank Policy Institute (BPI) is an organization representing large banks such as JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citi. BPI proposed that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury should expand customer identification program requirements to the secondary market for stablecoins, covering exchanges and other platforms that establish direct account relationships with retail investors.BPI stated that the relevant exchanges and platforms engage in a significant amount of buying and selling activities within the payment stablecoin ecosystem, where most illegal activities related to stablecoins occur. If the proposal is incorporated into the rules, the relevant platforms will be required to collect customer information in accordance with the Bank Secrecy Act, and decentralized exchanges may also fall under regulatory oversight. The proposed rules by FinCEN indicate that transactions in the secondary market for stablecoins on the blockchain typically use anonymous or pseudonymous identities, and there are no centralized nodes for collecting identity information, limiting the ability of issuers to gather customer data from the secondary market. BPI has also opposed the current version of the Digital Asset Market Structure Bill along with other banking organizations.

According to CoinDesk, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) under the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will jointly issue proposed rules requiring stablecoin issuers to establish a comprehensive anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance system. Specific measures include freezing, intercepting, and rejecting suspicious transactions, as well as complying with the relevant provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act.The rules emphasize an outcome-oriented approach, believing that financial institutions understand their own risks best. Issuers that establish a sound compliance system are typically exempt from enforcement actions. This move aims to implement the GENIUS Act passed last year, which is expected to take full effect in 2027.

U.S. Senators Elissa Slotkin (Democrat) and Jerry Moran (Republican) introduced the Strengthening Agency Frameworks for Enforcement of Cryptocurrency Act (SAFE Act) this Monday. The bill aims to coordinate the actions of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and the private sector to combat cryptocurrency fraud and scams.Gabriel Shapiro, Chief Legal Officer of Delphi Labs, stated on the X platform that if the bill is effectively implemented, cryptocurrency fraudsters and scammers may feel panic. He pointed out that senior officials, including the U.S. Attorney General, the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the director of the U.S. Secret Service, will be involved in pursuing cryptocurrency criminals. The FBI reported that in 2024, Americans lost $9.3 billion due to cryptocurrency-related investment scams, a 66% increase from 2023.

ChainCatcher news, the decentralized exchange Ant.fun recently announced that it has successfully obtained a Money Services Business (MSB) registration license issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).Ant.fun is committed to providing fast, stable, and secure on-chain trading services, and is a professional trading platform for global investors. The platform's business covers a variety of trading scenarios, including meme token trading, perpetual contracts (perps), and prediction markets, creating a one-stop decentralized digital asset trading experience for users.

ChainCatcher news, the DeFi Education Fund disclosed that the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) has been included in the latest version of the CLARITY Act. This is an important step in protecting non-custodial, peer-to-peer technology developers while maintaining strong regulation of custodial financial institutions.The revised bill reflects a prudent balance—based on the guidance issued by FinCEN in 2019, which clearly states that when developers and infrastructure providers do not control customer funds, they should not be regulated as money transmitters.Organizations supporting this statement include:Coin CenterDeFi Education FundSolana Policy InstituteThe Digital ChamberBlockchain AssociationCrypto Council for InnovationParadigmUniswap LabsJumpBitcoin Policy Institute

According to ChainCatcher news, as reported by DL News, the defense attorney for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm accused U.S. federal prosecutors of misleading the court on the legal applicability of non-custodial crypto mixers, claiming that the prosecution failed to disclose key communications with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which could undermine the government's core allegations that Tornado Cash operates as an unlicensed money transmission business.Roman Storm's defense cited details disclosed in a case related to the Samourai Wallet developers, emphasizing that FinCEN had previously stated that Samourai Wallet might not meet the definition of a money services business due to its non-custodial nature. Given that Tornado Cash is also a non-custodial protocol, the defense argues that this position is equally applicable.Currently, Roman Storm's legal team is requesting the court to order the government to disclose all communications with FinCEN and provide materials related to the Samourai Wallet case, with the trial expected to begin on July 14.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has accused banking giant TD Bank of failing to report suspicious activities involving an unnamed group of clients engaged in international cryptocurrency transactions.FinCEN stated that TD Bank processed over 2,000 transactions for a company referred to as "Client Group C" within nine months, which was identified as "allegedly engaged in sales in the financial and real estate sectors." Client Group C misrepresented its planned international wire activities to TD Bank, claiming that its annual sales would not exceed $1 million. In fact, Client Group C allegedly conducted over $1 billion in transactions through TD Bank. Furthermore, 90% of Client Group C's funds came from a UK cryptocurrency exchange, and 60% of the funds flowed to financial institutions in Colombia providing digital asset-related services. Client Group C did not list Colombia as one of the jurisdictions it intended to deal with while working with TD Bank and continued to engage with "high-risk industries and companies" in regions such as the Middle East.Previous news reported that TD Bank became the first bank in the U.S. to admit to conspiracy to launder money, resulting in a $3 billion fine.

ChainCatcher news, TokenPocket announced on its official X account that it has obtained the MSB (Money Services Business) license issued by the U.S. FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network). This license will assist TokenPocket's global operating entity TP Global Ltd in conducting cryptocurrency and payment-related business activities in multiple states across the United States. TokenPocket officially stated that it will gradually apply for compliance licenses in more countries and regions to provide users with diversified cryptocurrency services.It is reported that TokenPocket is a leading global multi-chain self-custody wallet, supporting mainstream public chains such as BTC, ETH, BSC, TRON, Solana, DOGE, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism. It offers a mobile wallet, Chrome extension wallet, and hardware wallet. TokenPocket has provided reliable services to over 25 million users worldwide, with more than 3.5 million monthly active users, spanning over 200 countries and regions globally.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Coinbase stated in comments submitted to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Monday that the U.S. Treasury's proposed rulemaking on cryptocurrency mixing fails to adequately address regulatory gaps while requiring crypto platforms to provide unnecessary data and resources. Coinbase stated that regulated crypto platforms are already obligated to record and report suspicious activities and illegal crypto mixing rules, but requiring crypto platforms to report all cryptocurrency mixing activities, including those with legitimate purposes, is not an effective use of company resources. The document also questioned the lack of a monetary threshold for record-keeping and reporting. Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal wrote in an X post that the absence of a monetary threshold "will only lead to a large number of reports of non-suspicious transactions." Grewal stated, "Congress has indicated that this data dump is a waste of time and resources."Grewal stated in an X post, "If the Treasury wants to focus on this issue, they should help exchanges fulfill their existing obligations to report suspicious activities involving mixing. This is what the Treasury has done elsewhere, and specific guidance is more effective than mandatory bulk reporting rules." In light of these issues, Coinbase suggested that FinCEN should introduce a threshold to eliminate bulk reporting of small transactions. Coinbase also recommended that only record-keeping should be required, rather than reporting, to mitigate privacy and security risks.Coinbase's comments are a response to FinCEN's proposed rulemaking aimed at increasing the transparency of cryptocurrency mixing activities, which was introduced last October. Many illicit actors, such as North Korean hackers and Russian ransomware attackers, use crypto mixers for money laundering activities. While FinCEN stated in its proposal that such mixers may facilitate money laundering, it acknowledged that cryptocurrency mixing can be used for "legitimate and innovative purposes."

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) wrote in a document that about two-thirds of the largest counterparties for receiving and sending transactions for Bitzlato are related to darknet markets or scams: from May 2018 to September 2022, Binance was the largest counterparty for receiving Bitcoin, followed by the Russian-linked darknet market Hydra and the Russia-based scam TheFiniko in second and third places, respectively. The top three sending counterparties during the same period were Hydra, the Finnish Bitcoin exchange Local Bitcoins, and TheFiniko.In response, a Binance spokesperson wrote in a statement that Binance "has provided significant assistance to international law enforcement partners supporting this investigation, reflecting Binance's commitment to working with global law enforcement partners." (Bloomberg)

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Gate US has stated that it has obtained licenses from "several" states, as well as a money services business license issued by FinCEN, bringing Gate.US closer to launching services in the United States.It is reported that Gate US did not disclose which states it received licenses from but indicated that it is not yet accepting users from the country at this stage. Other top exchanges registered in the United States include Coinbase, Kraken, Binance US, and Gemini. (Cointelegraph)

ChainCatcher news, a FinCEN document obtained by The New York Times shows that Twitter submitted a filing last week to venture into payment services.Previously, Musk announced on November 2 that the price for Twitter Blue verification service would be set at $8 per month to address the issue of spam accounts and reward content creators. (source link)