U.S. state regulators should require virtual currency firms currently subject to federal anti-money laundering rules to verify the identities of users of their services who do not hold accounts, a regulatory organization said Tuesday.
EU lawmakers should extend anti-money laundering requirements to some businesses that use or exchange virtual currencies, according to the economic bloc's law enforcement agency.
If you ask British banks how they view Bitcoin start-ups, you might conclude that digital currency firms in the U.K. have it no different than elsewhere. That is to say: bad.
Love or hate New Yorks plans to shield Bitcoin and its competitors from financial crooks, one thing is certain: the proposal is only the first of dozens that will shape the industry.
British officials will soon review the promises and risks of alternative payment systems, including virtual currencies, as part of a broad initiative to promote advances in financial technology.
For all of the legitimate concerns and overheated rhetoric about the rise of crypto-currencies, the biggest problem for Bitcoin may be one seldom discussed by critics: its abuse by tax dodgers.
Federal lawmakers are unlikely to move quickly to regulate digital currencies despite congressional skepticism about the technology, a senate staffer told attendees of a Bitcoin conference in New York.
With New York rules for digital currency exchanges in the works, other states are stepping up to draft rules of their own, speakers at a Manhattan Bitcoin conference said Monday.
A pair of congressional reports on the financial crime risks associated with Bitcoin and other digital currency platforms are slated for publication in April, say sources.
New York should require some digital currency companies to collect and periodically verify customer information to deter financial criminals, Manhattan's district attorney told state regulators Wednesday.
With greater regulatory clarity, U.S. banks would embrace the digital currency companies they currently turn away due to compliance concerns, Bitcoin investors told New York State regulatory officials Tuesday.
A well-known advocate of digital currencies and the head of a Bitcoin exchange house facilitated over $1 million in transactions tied to an online black market, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Turned away by American banks, some U.S.-based digital currency companies are using foreign bank accounts to send their proceeds back into the United States to pay employees and clients.
Ready or not, Bitcoin is growing in Europe, even as European regulators struggle to figure out how or if they'll police the virtual currency.
U.S. officials have sent formal warning letters to a number of virtual currency firms it suspects have failed to register as money services businesses, the head of the nation's financial intelligence unit said Tuesday.
New York States financial regulator will soon hold a public hearing to determine whether it should license digital currency companies that comply with regulations aimed at money launderers and fraudsters.
The indictment Wednesday of an online black market for narcotics and weapons vendors could further hamper proponents of a growing digital currency in the eyes of bank compliance officers.
Nearly all digital coins studied by researchers at the University of California in San Diego were used to purchase goods from a black market Web site selling illicit goods, a recent study found.
As digital currencies like Bitcoin continue to gain popularity, banks may have to train their compliance officers on the technical means to trace such money movements, according to Daniel Wood, an assistant general counsel with the Texas Department of Banking.
The second installation of a two-part story on how the Bitcoin market is changing under the scrutiny of federal and state officials.