News and commentary about white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance
Harry Cassin
Publisher and Editor
Andy Spalding
Senior Editor
Jessica Tillipman
Senior Editor
Bill Steinman
Senior Editor
Richard L. Cassin
Editor at Large
Elizabeth K. Spahn
Editor Emeritus
Cody Worthington
Contributing Editor
Julie DiMauro
Contributing Editor
Thomas Fox
Contributing Editor
Marc Alain Bohn
Contributing Editor
Bill Waite
Contributing Editor
Russell A. Stamets
Contributing Editor
Richard Bistrong
Contributing Editor
Eric Carlson
Contributing Editor
With plans to launch its own cryptocurrency later this year, Russia has updated its anti-bribery and AML laws to aid its burgeoning digital economy while dealing with corruption risks associated with the new technology amid reports the Federal Security Service (FSB) allegedly tried to extract a bribe worth $1 million in bitcoin from a media mogul last year.… Continue Reading
Qatar joined a number of countries across the globe that are implementing stricter laws to combat the illicit use of cryptocurrencies in terrorist financing and money laundering.… Continue Reading
A globally coordinated day of enforcement action — involving sharing of evidence and intelligence, and information collection activities such as search warrants, interviews and subpoenas — against suspected offshore tax evasion orchestrated by a Central American financial institution was undertaken last week by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands.… Continue Reading
Germany updated its anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime to be consistent with the EU’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, by imposing cryptocurrency licensing requirements effective from January 1, 2020.… Continue Reading
The Chairman of the China International Economic Exchange Center, Huang Qifan, revealed in October that China has been working on a central bank-issued digital currency for five to six years and he’s confident it can be introduced very soon.… Continue Reading
On July 6, the head of Turkey’s central bank Murat Cetinkaya — who in 2017 publicly stated that he felt threatened by Bitcoin — was unexpectedly removed from his job by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.… Continue Reading
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and current PM Benjamin Netanyahu believe that blockchain is a potentially a game-changing technology. They expect it to disrupt big sectors of the economy — healthcare, banking, insurance, and cybersecurity among them.… Continue Reading
Since 2014, the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — have been weaving Shariah-compliant blockchain technology and bitcoin into their existing financial and legal infrastructure, while transforming them all at the same time.… Continue Reading
Gulf Cooperation Council countries have been working since 2014 to weave Shariah-compliant blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies into their existing financial and legal infrastructure.
Current members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, known as the GCC, are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.… Continue Reading
The concept of central bank-issued digital currencies or national cryptocurrencies has attracted many governments across the world. Particularly, governments that have been sanctioned by the U.S. — such as Iran.
Iran is known for implementing the most creative barter-style sanctions evasion schemes in modern history involving various countries called “gas-for-gold” or the “gold loophole” to evade the economic restrictions that cut the country out of the financial system, crippling their ability to trade with the world. … Continue Reading
China is at the forefront of efforts to revolutionize digital mobile cross-border payment systems. Already, traders on the 21st century digital silk road are sending payments from Hong Kong to the Philippines and Pakistan, among other places, in mere seconds using blockchain-based, cross-border, mobile digital wallets from Chinese tech giants, including Ant Financial’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s… Continue Reading
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has joined the global regulatory initiatives to combat transnational crypto-crimes by updating its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) cross-border risk guidelines for cryptocurrencies, initially published in 2015. … Continue Reading