On Friday, Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange, notified approximately 13,000 of its customers that it would be turning over their account information to the Internal Revenue Service within 21 days. This follows the decision by a federal court in November to uphold a “John Doe” summons issued by the IRS seeking such data from
Treasury Official Warns of Risks to Financial System Posed by Illicit Use of Virtual Currencies
In a recent speech, the Under Secretary of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) warned of the growing threats to the U.S. financial system posed by virtual currencies. Addressing the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s Anti-Money Laundering & Financial Crimes Conference, Sigal Mandelker spoke broadly of the U.S. government’s efforts to
IRS-Criminal Investigation Ramps Up Scrutiny of Cryptocurrency Transactions
The Internal Revenue Service has assembled a specialized team of criminal investigators to build criminal tax evasion cases involving users of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a Bloomberg article entitled “IRS Cops Are Scouring Crypto Accounts to Build Tax Evasion Cases.” In that article, David Voreacos writes that IRS Special Agents are pivoting from
SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections Releases Its 2018 Examination Priorities
Our colleagues Joshua Horn, Ernest E. Badway, and Benjamin H. McCoy have published an article about the recent release by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations of its 2018 examination priorities, an annual report outlining the areas of the securities industry its examiners will target. This year, the
SEC’s Cyber Unit Shutters Another Alleged Initial Coin Offering Scam As Federal Cryptocurrency Fraud Crackdown Continues
Over the course of the last two months, we have witnessed a flurry of enforcement activity with respect to initial coin offerings and virtual currency fraud schemes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The SEC continued that trend today with an announcement that it has obtained a court order
CFTC’s Virtual Currency Task Force Files Suit to Shut Down Another Virtual Currency Scam
Last week we reported on a flurry of enforcement activity by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission’s “Virtual Currency Task Force” with respect to virtual currency fraud schemes. On Thursday, January 18, the CFTC filed two lawsuits in federal court in New York seeking to shut down two such schemes and to recover funds for victimized
CFTC Continues Federal Crackdown On Virtual Currency Fraud Schemes
Yesterday the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced two enforcement actions as part of a continuing crackdown on virtual currency fraud schemes by numerous federal agencies. (We have previously written about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s efforts in this area here and here.) And today the CFTC and SEC issued a joint statement reaffirming their
Coinbase Urges Bitcoin Users to Pay Their Taxes
Coindesk is reporting that Coinbase — the largest U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange and the subject of a recently-concluded “John Doe” summons dispute with the Internal Revenue Service — is reminding its customers of their U.S. tax obligations with a new dashboard banner entitled “Please remember to pay your taxes.” The banner then links to a “Taxes
SEC Continues Crackdown on Initial Coin Offerings With Cease-and-Desist Order
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that a California-based company selling digital tokens to investors to raise capital for its blockchain-based food review service halted its initial coin offering (ICO) and agreed to a cease-and-desist order in which the SEC found that its conduct constituted unregistered securities offers and sales.
According to the SEC’s
SEC’s Cyber Unit Files Its First-Ever Charges to Halt Alleged Initial Coin Offering Scam
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that its new Cyber Unit obtained an emergency asset freeze to halt a “fast-moving” Initial Coin Offering (ICO) fraud that raised up to $15 million from thousands of investors since August by falsely promising a 13-fold profit in less than a month.
The SEC filed charges against what