FinCEN

Bank of Ameri

2026-10-14 02:53:56

Bank of America hit with about $1.21 billion in penalties over unreported suspicious transactions

The U.S. Treasury said on Oct. 13 that Bank of America faces more than $1.21 billion in combined penalties tied to anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance failures. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, imposed a $1.2 billion penalty after finding the bank failed to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions, making it the Treasury Department’s third-largest penalty on record. In the settlement, the bank admitted it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act, including failures to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program, conduct required due diligence on correspondent accounts for foreign financial institutions, and file suspicious activity reports. Treasury said more than $1 billion of the unreported suspicious transactions involved national security and other priority illicit finance risks, including suspected Chinese money laundering networks, fraud, and trade-based money laundering linked to the U.S. southwest border. On the same day, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a record $750 million civil money penalty, while the Office of Foreign Assets Control reached an $11.6 million settlement over 475 apparent violations involving sanctions programs tied to Russia, Iran, and others. Bank of America told CNBC it expects to record a $1.2 billion non-deductible expense in third-quarter results, reducing earnings per share by about $0.17.

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US government

2026-10-10 04:54:00

K33 says U.S. government’s 17,700 BTC transfer likely reflects custody moves, not selling

K33 Research said in its latest weekly report that the U.S. government moved about 17,700 BTC to Coinbase Prime this week, including a tranche tied to the Bitfinex hack case, but argued the transfers were more likely part of a custody process than outright selling. The report said labeled government holdings fell from 324,527 BTC to 306,795 BTC, and estimated that roughly 21,500 BTC may have reached Coinbase Prime if unlabeled but apparently government-controlled wallets are included. K33 said the pace of Bitfinex claim distributions is the key supply variable to watch, noting that Bitfinex has pledged to use at least 80% of net recovered funds to buy back LEO and that as much as 85,000 BTC could be sold over 18 months if distributions begin. The report also covered a regulatory shift in Washington, with the U.S. Treasury withdrawing two older crypto rule proposals, one on mixer-related reporting and another on identity checks and recordkeeping for self-custody wallet transactions. Elsewhere, Robinhood added $25 million worth of BTC to its balance sheet, said it plans to launch perpetual futures trading for eligible U.S. users in the coming months, and saw total value locked on its Layer 2 chain reach $1.05 billion since its July launch. K33 also highlighted a fresh debate over AI and cryptography after OpenAI published 377 mathematical discoveries, prompting warnings from Ethereum researcher Justin Drake and pushback from Coinbase cryptography head Yehuda Lindell.

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Policy Regula

2026-10-08 17:30:51

U.S. prosecutors cite Bitcoin Fog ruling to back New York trial for Roman Storm

U.S. federal prosecutors told Judge Katherine Polk Failla that a Sept. 25 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which upheld the conviction of Bitcoin Fog founder Roman Sterlingov, supports trying Tornado Cash defendant Roman Storm in New York. The appellate court found venue proper in Washington, D.C. because law enforcement agents had sent about $250 worth of bitcoin to Bitcoin Fog from the district. Prosecutors argued that the same reasoning applies in Storm’s case because user Shakeeb Ahmed accessed Tornado Cash from his apartment in Manhattan. Storm later published the letter and said the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, withdrew its 2023 proposal for mixer-related reporting requirements the same day, saying the proposal could suppress legitimate activity.

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Policy Regula

2026-10-08 17:31:50

Federal prosecutors cite Bitcoin Fog ruling to back New York venue in Roman Storm case

Federal prosecutors have told Judge Katherine Polk Failla that a Sept. 25 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which upheld the conviction of Bitcoin Fog founder Roman Sterlingov, supports trying Tornado Cash defendant Roman Storm in New York. According to a post from Bitcoin News on X, the appeals court found that Washington, D.C. had proper venue because law enforcement officers sent about $250 in bitcoin to Bitcoin Fog from the district. Prosecutors said the same reasoning applies in Storm’s case because user Shakeeb Ahmed accessed Tornado Cash from his apartment in Manhattan. Storm later published the letter and said the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, withdrew its 2023 proposal for mixer reporting requirements on the same day, saying the proposal could suppress lawful activity. The development ties a recent appellate ruling in the Bitcoin Fog case to a key venue argument in the separate Tornado Cash prosecution.

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Policy and Re

2026-10-07 10:10:33

U.S. prosecutors cite Bitcoin Fog ruling to back New York venue for Roman Storm trial

U.S. federal prosecutors told the Southern District of New York on Oct. 7 that an appeals court decision upholding the conviction of Bitcoin Fog founder Roman Sterlingov supports trying Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm in New York. Prosecutors argued that the Bitcoin Fog case established that user transactions within a judicial district can help establish venue. In Storm’s case, they said Tornado Cash user Shakeeb Ahmed used the service from his Manhattan apartment, which they say is enough to show that part of the charged conduct took place in New York. Storm’s lawyers had previously argued that New York lacks proper venue and sought to overturn the conviction. Storm was found guilty by a New York jury in August 2025 on a conspiracy charge tied to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, while the jury did not reach a verdict on money laundering and sanctions-related counts. A retrial is currently set for April 26, 2027. Storm has pushed back by pointing to FinCEN’s withdrawal this week of a regulatory proposal on international crypto mixing transactions, saying one reason cited was concern that an overly broad definition of “mixing” could chill lawful activity.

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Roman Storm

2026-10-07 09:58:06

Prosecutors use Bitcoin Fog ruling to oppose Roman Storm venue challenge

Federal prosecutors told the judge in Roman Storm’s Tornado Cash case that a recent appeals ruling in the Bitcoin Fog case supports trying Storm in New York. In a letter filed Monday with Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York, prosecutors pointed to the D.C. Circuit’s September 25 decision affirming Bitcoin Fog founder Roman Sterlingov’s conviction and 150-month sentence. The filing focuses on Storm’s challenge to venue as part of his motion for acquittal, which was argued in April and has not yet been decided. Prosecutors said the Bitcoin Fog ruling supports venue on both the money laundering conspiracy count and the unlicensed money transmitting count. They argued that testimony from Tornado Cash user Shakeeb Ahmed, who said he accessed the service from his apartment in Manhattan, shows the mixer served users in the district. Storm pushed back publicly after posting the filing on X, saying the Department of Justice was still trying to secure his conviction. He also highlighted a Treasury notice filed the same day, in which FinCEN withdrew a 2023 proposal on reporting transactions involving international crypto mixing, while saying illicit actors still use mixers and would remain under monitoring. Storm’s retrial on two deadlocked counts is set for April 26, 2027.

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U.S. Treasury

2026-10-05 20:19:38

Treasury Withdraws Proposed Surveillance Rules for Unhosted Wallets and Crypto Mixers

The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has formally withdrawn two crypto proposals that had drawn years of opposition from privacy advocates and industry groups. One was FinCEN's December 2020 proposal on so-called unhosted, or self-custodial, wallets. It would have required banks and money services businesses to keep records on customer transactions with those wallets above $3,000 and report transactions over $10,000, including information on counterparties. The other was a 2023 Biden-era proposal that sought to classify international crypto mixing as a category of transactions of primary money laundering concern under the USA PATRIOT Act, which would have triggered reporting on wallet addresses, transaction hashes, and IP addresses linked to suspected mixing activity. FinCEN said comments on the mixer proposal warned that its broad definition of mixing could chill lawful use. Both withdrawals cite the White House's July 2025 digital asset report. Coin Center, which had fought both measures for years, welcomed the move, though Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburgh said the legal authority to propose similar rules still remains.

180

Policy Regula

2026-10-06 09:21:07

DOJ moves ahead in Roman Storm case as FinCEN withdraws mixer proposal

The U.S. Department of Justice is continuing to press its case against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, according to TheDefiant. A new court filing is aimed at Storm’s challenge to venue, while his motion for acquittal has not yet been decided. The report says a retrial is scheduled for April 26, 2027. In the same update, TheDefiant also noted that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, has dropped a proposal related to mixers. The development puts two regulatory and legal threads side by side: one tied to the criminal case against Storm, and another involving a withdrawn policy proposal from FinCEN. No additional details on the filing or the proposal were provided in the source material.

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