FinCEN to stop Bitcoin working like secret Swiss bank accounts

The Secretary of the United States Treasury yesterday announced that FinCEN, the country’s body that tackles financial crimes like anti-money laundering and terrorist financing, will soon roll out new requirements regarding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

Steven Mnuchin said, “We are about to roll out some significant new requirements at FinCEN. We want to make sure that technology moves forward, but on the other hand, we want to make sure that cryptocurrencies aren’t used for the equivalent of old Swiss secret number bank accounts.”

Mnuchin didn’t expand on his comments, uttered before the Senate Finance Committee in relation to Trump’s 2021 budget, but told Senator Maggie Hassan, “You’’ll be seeing a lot of work coming out very quickly.”

Anti-money laundering regulations have become stricter since FATF, a large international body that comprises most of the world’s major economies, asked member states to enforce the new “travel rule.” It requires that virtual asset service providers, like crypto exchanges, send customer information to each other whenever a customer makes a transaction. FATF made that recommendation earlier in 2019, and companies are hurrying to implement it. 

And in November 2019, the IRS said that it will be cracking down on crypto tax evasion, and has shared data, tools, and strategies with tax enforcement agencies from the UK, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.