The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or ‘FinCEN’ is a U.S. agency – bureau of the Treasury Department – that fights financial crime. Its motto is “follow the money”.
This Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) supports local, state, federal and international law enforcement investigations to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and to fight against money laundering, terrorism financing, weapons proliferation, etc.
In the cryptocurrency and blockchain markets, FinCEN has been very active on cracking down on market manipulation, fraud and other financial crimes.
In October, FinCEN congratulated itself on the “first action taken” against a bitcoin ‘mixing’ scheme in relation to Larry Dean Harmon, the head of Helix and Coin Ninja mixing service. In November of 2020, FinCEN, alongside the Federal Reserve, proposed changing the Bank Secrecy Act SAR reporting threshold for cross-border transactions from $3,000 to $250. In December of 2020, FinCEN published a proposed set of rulings on KYC requirements for self-hosted wallets that interact with cryptocurrency exchanges.
To visit the FinCEN website click here.
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