Author

Topic: USD Exchange FinCEN Compliance Report (Read 2980 times)

legendary
Activity: 1258
Merit: 1027
April 29, 2014, 09:00:38 PM
#11
For BTC sake an Auditing Compliance Report would be a good thing  Smiley

I agree, and a reasonable requirement for any audit to be considered credible is that the name of the business, its principals, and its location be included.
legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 1014
April 29, 2014, 08:51:54 PM
#10
https://btc-e.com/news/199

Of course they could be lying just like any other exchange

For BTC sake an Auditing Compliance Report would be a good thing  Smiley

Today an exchange can be fully AML-KYC-Fincen-whatnot compliant and still be fractional, that's scary.
legendary
Activity: 1258
Merit: 1027
April 29, 2014, 03:59:19 PM
#9
Bitfinex I don't know them but they don't offer any real BTC/USD pairs do they? Just some sort of futures that continually degrade with contango; how does that fit into an index?

They run a BTC/USD order book just like the other exchanges.

From the Bitfinex site:
BTC-E is fully funded

Do you know the company, person or people running BTC-e?

If so I'd like to speak with them.

I'm not trying to bash BTC-e at all, they have been around for 3 years and do a solid consistent trading volume for the most part, but with the total anonymity and seriousness of recent unsatisfied complaints some more information about the management is desirable.
legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 1014
April 29, 2014, 03:30:57 PM
#8
OK I understand  Smiley

No harm taken then.

Regarding BTC-e, note that the compliance Nazis at Gox were the first to go, while BTC-E is fully funded and has never annoyed customers with KYC, yet offers many fiat pairs (at the expense of not serving US customers).  Undecided

Bitfinex I don't know them but they don't offer any real BTC/USD pairs do they? Just some sort of futures that continually degrade with contango; how does that fit into an index?
legendary
Activity: 1258
Merit: 1027
April 29, 2014, 09:13:14 AM
#7
Ah franky1 you forgot that Americans think of the world as their back yard, any non-American has to bow to American laws of course  Angry

This paper is dripping with arrogance, "disgruntled btc-e customers" ... as if the other exchanges had no disgruntled customers, service discussion is full with threads that tell a different story

BTC-E is not even accepting US wires so why the fuck would they have to register??!!

Well, I guess I'll "drip some more arrogance"??...

As I stated:
Quote
To us what this data represents is whether or not an Exchange is proactively pursuing compliance in the US, how you interpret a company registering or not is up to you.

I'm not suggesting that any foreign entity has to "bow to American laws", merely that those that do register are being proactive about compliance with laws that may affect their ability to transact business legally in the US in the future. If you choose to transact business with an unregistered entity that is your choice, but I thought either way you might find the knowledge beneficial.

The reason we are considering removing BTE-e is primarily their lack of transparency about who they are. It's not as if they are some hands off third party, they are managing a significant amount of wealth, and if something goes south there is not a person or entity that can be held accountable on any level. No registered company, no identified leadership, no physical address, what we consider more then the typical amount of complaints going un-addressed, etc...

You'll note that Bitfinex is also not registered, but will continue to be included in our Index. The decision is not based on registration, but on transparency about who you are doing business with. I'd love to talk to the folks at BTC-e if they would like to shed some light on who they are and how their business is set up.

legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 1014
April 29, 2014, 06:48:56 AM
#6
Ah franky1 you forgot that Americans think of the world as their back yard, any non-American has to bow to American laws of course  Angry

This paper is dripping with arrogance, "disgruntled btc-e customers" ... as if the other exchanges had no disgruntled customers, service discussion is full with threads that tell a different story

BTC-E is not even accepting US wires so why the fuck would they have to register??!!
legendary
Activity: 4214
Merit: 4458
April 29, 2014, 03:00:02 AM
#5
just to add some info..

BTC-E is not a MSB. they do not transfer funds from an actual bank account belonging to them. EG accepting money in from john and sending it out to mary.

they however USE a MSB, much in the same regards as many people use paypal, where users change balances on paypals database but its paypal that moves actual dollars from bank account to bank account..

BTC-E uses Unitransact Pty Ltd and Unitransact Pty Ltd's bank gets wire transfer requests from Unitransact Pty Ltd not BTC-E

(though btc-e ask Unitransact Pty Ltd in the middle)

FinCEN position is the mere act of exchanging virtual currency for real currency is in itself money transmission even if no other money transmission occurs.  One could argue that is a stretch and that classification in another MSB category would be more appropriate but until contested in a court of law FinCEN guidance stands.

http://fincen.gov/statutes_regs/guidance/html/FIN-2013-G001.html

fincen laws dont apply in bulgaria, cyprus, australia (three countries they are known to exist.) infact i doubt their Unitransact Pty Ltd account is measured in dollars. but instead in Euro's or rubles, which BTC-E, onl on their website, display as a dollar/euro/ruble balance, where no actual US dollars sit in an account. infact Unitransact Pty Ltd is australian so its probably stored as AUD $ in a bank account owned by Unitransact Pty Ltd.

but with that said because the bank account is entity 1. Unitransact Pty Ltd is entity 2. and then btc-e is entity 3. then btc-e is a couple layers from a wire transfer. atmost i think they might be able to twist a few thought out words to class themselves as either agents of Unitransact Pty Ltd or just customers. much like customers of paypal.

so i half agree with your statement
donator
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1079
Gerald Davis
April 29, 2014, 02:39:18 AM
#4
just to add some info..

BTC-E is not a MSB. they do not transfer funds from an actual bank account belonging to them. EG accepting money in from john and sending it out to mary.

they however USE a MSB, much in the same regards as many people use paypal, where users change balances on paypals database but its paypal that moves actual dollars from bank account to bank account..

BTC-E uses Unitransact Pty Ltd and Unitransact Pty Ltd's bank gets wire transfer requests from Unitransact Pty Ltd not BTC-E

(though btc-e ask Unitransact Pty Ltd in the middle)

FinCEN position is the mere act of exchanging virtual currency for real currency is in itself money transmission even if no other money transmission occurs.  One could argue that is a stretch and that classification in another MSB category would be more appropriate but until contested in a court of law FinCEN guidance stands.

http://fincen.gov/statutes_regs/guidance/html/FIN-2013-G001.html




legendary
Activity: 4214
Merit: 4458
April 29, 2014, 02:29:38 AM
#3
just to add some info..

BTC-E is not a MSB. they do not transfer funds from an actual bank account belonging to them. EG accepting money in from john and sending it out to mary.

they however USE a MSB, much in the same regards as many people use paypal, where users change balances on paypals database but its paypal that moves actual dollars from bank account to bank account..

BTC-E uses Unitransact Pty Ltd and Unitransact Pty Ltd's bank gets wire transfer requests from Unitransact Pty Ltd not BTC-E

(though btc-e ask Unitransact Pty Ltd in the middle)
hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 500
Nope..
April 29, 2014, 01:22:48 AM
#2
Wow.  Thanks for sharing.  Good to see some progressive thinkers supporting the cause and informing others.
legendary
Activity: 1258
Merit: 1027
April 29, 2014, 12:14:41 AM
#1
USD Exchange FinCEN Compliance Report
Updated: April 28th, 2014

Preface:

This is a portion of the research conducted for the upcoming Coin Cadence Bitcoin Exchange Review we plan to launch this quarter. We are sharing this data today in hopes of both demonstrating our commitment to a quality index, and getting some feedback on facts gathered and their presentation. As a member of the Bitcoin community, your feedback is both valued and appreciated.

Why we studied FinCEN compliance:

On March 18th, 2013 the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance for virtual currencies, including Bitcoin.

To summarize; all Bitcoin exchanges and some Bitcoin miners are required to register as Money Service Business (MSBs) with FinCEN and comply with anti-money laundering regulations.

Some Bitcoin miners, and all “regular” Bitcoin users are not required to register as MSBs if they only use Bitcoin to purchase goods and services.

Who this report includes:

We researched only exchanges included in the Coin Cadence Bitcoin Exchange Index.

The Index includes all major USD to BTC exchange sites that currently meet our criteria (7 as of this writing).

What we looked for:

As of the March 18th, 2013 guidance all Bitcoin to USD Exchanges are required to register as a Money Services Business. Once registered MSB registrants are publicly searchable on a special section of the FinCEN website.

The results:

ExcahngeLocationRegisteredMSB Reg. #Reg. Date
AtlasUnited States
Yes
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