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In an op-ed on Bloomberg Law, Steven Merriman and Jim Vivenzio of Perkins Coie raised concerns over FinCEN’s latest move to crack down on crypto mixers. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is pushing for financial institutions to impose new compliance measures in its latest reporting plan, focusing on crypto transactions involving” convertible virtual currency (CVC) mixing.” According to fintech compliance lawyers Steven Merriman and Jim Vivenzio, FinCEN’s latest proposal broadens the definition of “mixing” and “mixers,” potentially targeting not only transactions involving traditional mixing services — e.g. sanctioned Tornado Cash — but also “innocuous blockchain transactions,” like converting one form of crypto to another. “The amount of monitoring and reporting contemplated by FinCEN’s proposal could be disruptive.” Steven Merriman and Jim Vivenzio While FinCEN’s primary focus is on th...

The European Union is enhancing the European Central Bank’s role to oversee climate risks and digital assets in the banking sector. This move comes with the expanding scope of risks facing the banking sector, notably those associated with climate change and the burgeoning field of digital assets. Under the new mandate, the ECB’s responsibilities will now encompass overseeing banks ’ transition strategies towards a net-zero carbon economy spanning the next three decades. This development places the ECB at the forefront of supervising how banks prepare and adapt to environmental changes, which is increasingly seen as critical given the potential financial risks of climate change. Moreover, the ECB’s jurisdiction is extended to include the supervision of bank-owned crypto asset services. This change reflects the growing importance of digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) in the financial landscape and the need for robust regulatory frameworks to manage associa...

Binance’s founder says challenges related to fiat ramps can prevent the market from onboarding the next 100 million users . Trouble seems to be brewing on the horizon for the crypto market as tight regulations forced traditional institutions to pull away from the industry, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) told Insider at the Token2049 crypto event. Speaking about possible difficulties barring another 100 million users from entering the market , CZ said converting crypto to fiat and vice versa appears to be the main issue nowadays. “With tightening regulations in the earlier part of this year, we’re seeing a lot of traditional institutions that used to provide fiat ramp channels pull away.” Changpeng Zhao For Binance, crypto-to-fiat ramps have become a hot topic recently as weekly trading volume with traditional currencies on the platform has plummeted 60% since the beginning of 2023, according to Kaiko data. You might also like: Binance US l...