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
Western countries have primarily responded to Russian aggression by utilizing financial tools against the Kremlin, President Putin, and Russian organizations and individuals connected to Putin. Since 9/11, economic sanctions have increasingly become a tactic of first resort against both state and non-state actors.… Continue Reading
Cryptocurrency is seen as “anonymous” because it is possible to move funds without providing any personal information. But that is not entirely true. Bitcoin and most other currencies are “pseudonymous.” That is, they operate under a hashkey or unique identifier that’s not entirely anonymous.… 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
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
With apologies to David Letterman’s signature skit series of a decade ago, we’d like to borrow his title to highlight a few misunderstandings about the nature of trust in business.
Here’s our list, followed by some comments about the flaws.… Continue Reading
In the prior post, I explored how blockchain stores personal information on an immutable ledger and cannot be modified or erased to meet GDPR requirements. In this post, I’ll discuss strategies available to blockchain operators to help manage risks posed by GDPR.… Continue Reading
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in May. With the risk of hefty fines, it’s no surprise that GDPR compliance tops the agenda for many organizations. But one area of technology faces even greater challenges under GDPR: blockchain.… Continue Reading
It’s increasingly important to understand the way disruptive technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and big data are already impacting and will continue to shape how compliance systems work.
The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is holding a two-day seminar on this topic for professionals and others from September 20 to 21 at our Laxenburg/Vienna campus.… Continue Reading