ChainCatcher news, the Federal Reserve issued a cease-and-desist order to the crypto-friendly bank United Texas Bank on Wednesday, citing "significant deficiencies" in the bank's compliance with anti-money laundering laws related to transactions with cryptocurrency clients, as well as other alleged illegal activities.The bank's latest quarterly report shows that it has 75 employees and manages assets of approximately $1 billion. Niko Demchuk, the legal chief of the crypto compliance firm AMLBot, told Decrypt that the impact of such cease-and-desist orders extends far beyond the recipient and its clients. He noted, "Every cease-and-desist order plays an important role in the market. Other banks will strive to gain more insights into which specific areas are not in compliance with current AML regulations to improve their own internal AML processes." Demchuk added that mentions of crypto assets will alert other banks dealing with crypto assets to review their risk management systems to ensure that all risks are considered and mitigated.

ChainCatcher news, Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform stating that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler mentioned that due to the permissionless nature of blockchain, DeFi faces challenges in enforcing anti-money laundering laws.

ChainCatcher news, the European Parliament has voted to pass a new set of laws tightening anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures across the EU. These laws target large cash payments, cryptocurrency companies, and football clubs, among others. In addition to creating a single rulebook for the 27 EU countries, the package approved on Thursday also establishes an anti-money laundering agency based in Frankfurt, responsible for overseeing the implementation of the relevant frameworks, particularly those that the EU deems most important.The new laws include strengthened due diligence measures and checks on customer identities, after which so-called obligated entities (such as banks, asset and cryptocurrency managers, or real estate and virtual real estate brokers) must report suspicious activities to financial intelligence units and other competent authorities.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Interface News, the amendment to China's anti-money laundering law has made significant progress. On January 22, 2024, Premier Li Qiang presided over a State Council executive meeting to discuss the "Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft Amendment)." Regarding the draft amendment, Wang Xin, a professor at Peking University Law School and an expert involved in the discussion of the anti-money laundering law amendment, stated that the anti-money laundering law covers a wide range of issues, and it is difficult for the draft amendment to address everything comprehensively; it can only reflect the most urgent content in a framework manner.Yan Lixin, Executive Director of the China Anti-Money Laundering Research Center at Fudan University, stated that the most important, urgent, and necessary issue to be elevated to the legal level is the money laundering problem involving virtual assets. The use of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets for money laundering is gradually becoming a mainstream trend, but China's laws lack a clear definition of the connotation and extension of virtual assets. Wang Xin believes that the prohibition of Bitcoin's legal status in China reflects the country's attitude towards virtual currencies. To prevent digital financial risks, China prohibits providing or accepting services related to virtual currencies. The draft amendment to the anti-money laundering law has included measures to address new types of money laundering risks, requiring financial institutions to assess money laundering risks and take risk management measures before adopting new technologies or providing new products.In addition, Yan Lixin introduced that there is still significant room for improvement in the judicial relief work during the anti-money laundering enforcement process in China, and the anti-money laundering law should also cover judicial relief-related content to protect citizens' legal rights and interests. In reality, it is not uncommon for financial accounts or personal bank cards suspected of money laundering or other illegal or criminal activities to be "frozen," "suspended," or "seized" without proper recourse, and such situations have become commonplace. Among them, there are many individuals or groups who have been mistakenly targeted or harmed, and cases where accounts are mistakenly frozen or suspended without any avenue for appeal, leading to prolonged indecision and causing individuals, families, or businesses to fall into dire straits are also not rare. Wang Xin believes that a compliant management system must be established for anti-money laundering. As a fundamental law, the anti-money laundering law should incorporate compliance requirements for anti-money laundering, facilitating the subsequent issuance of implementation rules and other guiding documents.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, blockchain startup Kinto announced that it has completed $5 million in funding this year to develop an Ethereum Layer 2 network compliant with anti-money laundering laws based on the OP Stack, aimed at connecting financial institutions and real-world assets through DeFi.According to RootData, Kinto received $1.5 million in Pre-Seed funding from Kyber Capital Crypto earlier this year.Recently, Kinto completed another $3.5 million in funding, led by Kyber Capital Crypto, Spartan Group, and Parafi, with participation from SkyBridge Capital, Kraynos, Soft Holdings, Deep Ventures, Modular, Tane, and Robot Ventures.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, the Indian Ministry of Finance stated in a notification that anti-money laundering legislation has been applied to cryptocurrency transactions, custody, and related financial services. This is the latest move by the government to strengthen regulation of crypto assets. (Source link)

According to ChainCatcher, The Block reported that U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren stated during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that she plans to reintroduce relevant legislation with Senator Roger Marshall to expand anti-money laundering laws to a wide range of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, including digital asset wallet providers, miners, validators, and other blockchain network participants, and noted that current anti-money laundering rules are not adequately applicable to crypto companies.Previously, Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall proposed a bill last December aiming to prohibit banks and other financial institutions from transacting with digital asset mixers, requiring the Treasury to conduct anti-money laundering compliance examinations on registered large U.S. cryptocurrency companies. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, according to CNN, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is attempting to push for bipartisan efforts in Congress to combat money laundering in the cryptocurrency industry. Warren's office stated that she is collaborating with Kansas Republican Senator Roger Marshall to introduce new legislation on Wednesday.The new bill, titled the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, aims to combat money laundering by attempting to align the digital asset ecosystem with the existing anti-money laundering framework in the global financial system. The bill will direct the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to classify digital asset wallet providers, miners, validators, and other entities as money services businesses. This, in turn, will expand the scope of responsibilities under the Bank Secrecy Act to the crypto industry, including KYC requirements.The bill will also compel regulators to advance new restrictions aimed at closing the loopholes that allow individuals to bypass anti-money laundering and sanctions checks. Specifically, it will instruct FinCEN to finalize and implement a rule proposed in 2020 that would require banks and money services businesses to verify the identities of customers and counterparties, maintain records, and submit reports related to non-custodial wallets or wallets associated with jurisdictions that do not comply with banking regulations.Other requirements of the bill include:Prohibiting banks and other financial institutions from using technologies that enhance anonymity (such as digital asset mixers) or engaging in transactions with them, and banning the processing of digital assets that utilize these technologies.Expanding the Bank Secrecy Act rules regarding foreign bank account reporting to include digital assets, requiring U.S. persons conducting digital asset transactions exceeding $10,000 through overseas accounts to report to the IRS.Directing regulators to strengthen the enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act by establishing compliance review procedures for money services businesses.Targeting digital asset ATMs to ensure operators and administrators submit and update the actual addresses of their ATMs. (Source link)