In the wake of all the cryptocurrency exchanges that have imploded over the past year, including most notably FTX, it should be apparent that centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are centralized financial institutions that perform the same functions that banks provide...
AML
Good or Bad: Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Mixers, & Illicit Crypto Exchanges
Last month the US Treasury placed sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado.cash causing a considerable amount of pushback and questions about the suitability and legality of sanctions on Tornado cash. The sanctions on Tornado cash follow an increasing amount of...
The Prevalence of Sha Zhu Pan AKA Pig Butchering Scams
Romance scams, which often involve a scammer impersonating someone as part of the scam, aren’t new by any means, but a new breed of romance scam has become incredibly prevalent over the past few years. This breed of romance scam has been referred to as a ‘pig...
Are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Used For Money Laundering?
What is an NFT? A Non-fungible Token (NFT) is a unique digital asset and piece of data stored on a blockchain. The NFT is a unique token recorded as belonging to a given wallet, and it is not indistinguishable or interchangeable amongst other tokens of the same type....
Compliance and AML Practices: An Open Letter to Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Services
This past week, the US government took action for the first time to sanction a foreign cryptocurrency exchange, Suex, in an effort to stem the tide against ransomware and cybercrime. This enforcement action puts Suex in the same category as suspected terrorists. Thus,...