Recent remarks by Himamauli Das, Acting Director of the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), at this year's FinCEN Conference indicate that decentralized finance (DeFi) is likely to be a core focus of the agency's enforcement efforts in 2023. Referencing the Treasury Department's digital assets action plan, issued under President Joe Biden's Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, Director Das emphasized that FinCEN is taking "a close look" at its anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) frameworks to the extent they pertain to digital assets in order to determine whether additional regulations or guidance are necessary. In particular, Director Das stated that the agency is "looking carefully at decentralized finance and its potential to reduce or eliminate the role of financial intermediaries that play a critical role" in FinCEN's AML/CFT efforts. In addition, Director Das's remarks also emphasized FinCEN's commitment to closely monitor FinTech and RegTech companies engaged in traditional depository lending activity to assess whether there is a need for additional regulation or guidance to address corresponding AML/CFT issues.
Also this week, according to remarks from a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) spokesperson, the FTC is investigating several crypto firms for potential misconduct related to deceptive or misleading advertisements. This is on the heels of recent enforcement action taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against a reality TV star for touting digital assets on social media without disclosing the compensation received for the promotion. According to a report published by the FTC earlier this year, approximately half of all scams related to digital assets in 2021 originated from social media.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Prepared Remarks of FinCEN Acting Director Himamauli Das During the ABA/ABA Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference
- US consumer watchdog probes crypto firms over deceptive ads
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