FinCEN Proposes New
Regulation to Enhance Transparency in Convertible Virtual Currency Mixing and
Combat Terrorist Financing
Immediate Release October 19, 2023
WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a Notice of Proposed Rule Making
(NPRM) that identifies international Convertible Virtual Currency
Mixing (CVC mixing) as a class of transactions of primary money
laundering concern. This NPRM highlights the risks posed by the extensive use
of CVC mixing services by a variety of illicit actors throughout the world and
proposes a rule to increase transparency around CVC mixing to combat its use by
malicious actors including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The NPRM is a key part of Treasury’s efforts
to promote transparency for CVC mixing activities.
“Today’s action underscores Treasury’s commitment to combatting the
exploitation of Convertible Virtual Currency mixing by a broad range of illicit
actors, including state-affiliated cyber actors, cyber criminals, and terrorist
groups,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “More broadly,
the Treasury Department is aggressively combatting illicit use of all aspects
of the CVC ecosystem by terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian
Islamic Jihad.”
“CVC mixing offers a critical service that allows players in the
ransomware ecosystem, rogue state actors, and other criminals to fund their
unlawful activities and obfuscate the flow of ill-gotten gains,” said FinCEN
Director Andrea Gacki. “This is FinCEN’s first ever use of the Section 311
authority to target a class of transactions of primary money laundering
concern, and, just as with our efforts in the traditional financial system,
Treasury will work to identify and root out the illicit use and abuse of the
CVC ecosystem.”
The lack of transparency surrounding international CVC mixing activity is
an acute money laundering and national security risk, and increasing
transparency in connection with this activity is a key component to denying
illicit actors access to the U.S. and global financial systems. This increased
transparency is also consistent with longstanding Treasury Department efforts
to counter the efforts of terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Palestinian
Islamic Jihad, that engage in violence against innocent civilians; the efforts
of ransomware criminals targeting critical infrastructure; and the efforts by
state actors and their supporters to evade U.S. and global sanctions. In
support of these important goals, the NPRM would require covered financial
institutions to report information about a transaction when they know, suspect,
or have reason to suspect it involves CVC mixing within or involving
jurisdictions outside the United States.
The proposed rule announced today follows multiple prior actions by
Treasury to target illicit finance involving the use of mixing services. In
February 2022, the 2022 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment (NMLRA)
identified that criminals have increased their use of anonymity-enhancing
technologies, including CVC mixing, to help hide the movement or origin of
funds. Shortly after publication of the NMLRA, OFAC designated Blender.io,
which provided mixing services that were used by DPRK to launder over $20.5
million from the Axie Infinity Heist in May 2022. In 2022, OFAC also designated
Tornado Cash, which provided mixing services that obfuscated the movement of
over $455 million stolen in March 2022 by the OFAC-designated, North
Korea-controlled Lazarus Group in the largest known virtual currency heist to
date. In addition to actions specifically focused on mitigating risks
associated with CVC mixing, Treasury has taken several other actions to counter
illicit finance in the CVC ecosystem more broadly. For example, in January
2023, FinCEN identified the virtual currency exchange Bitzlato Limited as a
primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance, an
action coordinated with U.S. law enforcement and foreign partners.
The NPRM as submitted to the Federal Register is
currently available here.
A machine-readable version of the NPRM as transmitted to the Federal
Register will also soon be available on FinCEN’s website.
Written comments to the NPRM may be submitted within 90 days of publication of
the NPRM in the Federal Register.
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