372 results filtered by
It’s time to have the conversation: Is the Bank Secrecy Act unconstitutional?
Today we’re publishing another report on the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) entitled “Broad, Ambiguous, or Delegated: Constitutional Infirmities of the Bank Secrecy Act.” In our 2019 report, “Electronic Cash, Decentralized...
There’s a centuries-old standard that tells us when regulation of crypto is justified
Today Coin Center submitted a comment letter in the Treasury Department’s ongoing rulemaking on the definition of “broker” for third-party tax reporting purposes. In brief, we argue that the definition...
A Simple Legislative Fix to Complicated Tax Rules for Personal Cryptocurrency Transactions
Existing rules for the taxation of cryptocurrency can make even the simplest of transactions a confusing ordeal to track, record, and report. A legislative fix is needed for everyday transactions,...
Late last month the Treasury Department published a proposed regulation to define when a person in crypto qualifies as a “broker” under the tax code and therefore must collect personal...
New Tornado Cash indictments seem to run counter to FinCEN guidance
Roman Storm and Roman Semenov have been indicted for, among other charges, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. We don't have all the facts but at first blush...
When does a sanction become a seizure? Lessons from the KindHearts case
While researching case law for our Tornado Cash challenge I came across a very interesting holding, KindHearts v. Geithner, that deals with the intersection of the Office of Foreign Assets...
The CANSEE Act is a messy, arbitrary, and unconstitutional approach to DeFi
Yesterday Senators Reed, Rounds, Warner, and Romney introduced the Crypto-Asset National Security Enhancement (CANSEE) Act in the Senate. This bill comes as a surprise as it was apparently developed without...
How Congress should (and should not) approach DeFi
Given that Congress is now considering cryptocurrency market structure legislation, we felt it was important to reiterate the distinction between activities by market actors that may be appropriately regulated, and...
Yesterday the Treasury Department released a “DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment.” While the report does not announce any new or changed policy, and correctly acknowledges the much larger illicit finance...
The RESTRICT Act, introduced by Senators Warner and Thune, aims to block or disrupt transactions and financial holdings involving foreign adversaries that pose risks to national security. Although the primary...