In response to the growing prominence of stablecoins and their potential impact on financial systems, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have introduced a comprehensive regulatory proposal for stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been instrumental in setting global standards for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT). With the rapid growth of virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), ensuring these entities comply with stringent AML/CFT requirements has become a priority. In October 2018, FATF updated its Recommendation 15 to include VAs and VASPs, and in June 2019, an Interpretive Note was adopted to further clarify these requirements. This article examines the progress and challenges in implementing these standards across 130 jurisdictions, as highlighted in the FATF's targeted update released in July 2024.
We are thrilled to announce that Debra Brookes, a distinguished former Deputy Virtual Currency Chief at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), has joined Merkle Science as an advisor. With her extensive experience in cryptocurrency regulation, financial fraud prevention, and white-collar criminal enforcement, Debra will be an invaluable asset to our mission of creating a safe and thriving cryptocurrency industry.
The U.S. Department of State in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, the Australian Federal Police, and other international partners, have taken a significant step against the infamous LockBit ransomware group. On May 7th, 2024 the United States designated Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev as the leader of LockBit and offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
On February 20, 2024, a coalition of international agencies led by the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the UK took enforcement action against LockBit, a ransomware as a service (RaaS) operator that manages and distributes ransomware of the same name. As part of Operation Cronos, the coalition seized eight darknet websites belonging to LockBit, and more crucially, the central administration environment, which included a panel from where affiliates staged their attacks. When this panel was live, it was where affiliates modified RaaS samples, managed victims, and even published blog posts. With the central administration environment in the hands of authorities, the ability of LockBit and its affiliates to launch attacks has effectively been dismantled.
On November 14, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission released its 2023 Enforcement Report, which details enforcement actions that advance its mandate of protecting investors and maintaining fair markets.
As a leading blockchain analytics provider enabling law enforcement and crypto businesses to tackle financial crimes, earning industry grade credentials underscores our commitment to setting the highest standards for protecting sensitive information. Adding to the existing fort of our robust security - ISO 27001, SOC 2 type II- Merkle Science is now GDPR compliant as well. The company received its GDPR compliant certification in December 2023 after an independent audit.
Merkle Science is pleased to announce the addition of Richard Reinhardt and Ryan Gray to lead its expansion into U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Richard Reinhardt joins Merkle Science as Lead Investigator and Ryan Gray joins the company as Account Executive. These strategic additions reinforce Merkle Science's renewed commitment to serving Public Sector customers.
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, is now facing an existential crisis. Federal prosecutors had issued charges to Binance and founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao for their failure to report 100,000 suspicious transactions involving ransomware attacks, hacks, and even terrorist financing.
On 18th October 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it has imposed sanctions on ten Hamas members, operatives, and financial facilitators, including a Gaza-based money services business (MSB), Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company. Additionally, a terrorist-linked Bitcoin address was also sanctioned (19D1iGzDr7FyAdiy3ZZdxMd6ttHj1kj6WW) thathas received a total of $288,380,277 so far.
