FinCEN’s guidance clarifies the applicability of the BSA to a variety of virtual currency businesses.

By Todd Beauchamp, Charles Weinstein, Loyal T. Horsley, Cameron R. Kates, and Shaun Musuka

On May 9, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued interpretive guidance expanding on previously issued guidance and rulings regarding the application of the Bank Secrecy Act and FinCEN’s implementing regulations (collectively, the BSA) to a variety of business models involving “convertible virtual currency” (CVC).[i]

Background

The BSA is the US’ principal anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML) regulatory regime, and is applicable to “financial institutions,” which includes a variety of entities, such as banks and “money services businesses” (MSBs). One type of MSB is a “Money Transmitter,” which includes any person that accepts “currency, funds or other value that substitutes for currency from one person” and transmits such “currency, funds or other value to another location or person by any means.”