How can the US government best work with the public sector to combat illicit finance, particularly with the proliferation of cryptocurrencies?
In our latest podcast, we discuss our upcoming conference, “Those Darkest Hours”: The Future of American Security, which will be held December 2 in Washington DC.
As part of the event, one particular panel, Out of Shadow: Combating the Evolving Illicit Finance Threat, will focus on how the danger of illicit finance, which covers everything from laundering money from illegal activity to funding terrorism, is becoming greatly a bigger danger due mainly to the rapid growth in the use of cryptocurrencies.
With the inclusion of a provision in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to examine the use of new financial technologies in terrorism financing, regulatory scrutiny of cryptocurrencies is poised to take another step forward under newly appointed US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Of course, even before Secretary Yellen’s arrival, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism programs were a top priority for both the Internal Revenue Service and law enforcement officials alike.
Indeed, if recent developments — such as the seizure of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency from Al-Qaeda and ISIS in August 2020 — are any indication, the dark world of crypto-terror appears ever more pronounced and insidious.
You can listen to the full podcast about the upcoming American Security conference here.
This podcast offers an important update on the elevated illicit finance threat environment. What regulatory actions are expected under a Biden administration? How comprehensive will a renewed multinational fight against terrorism financing be in today’s tenuous climate?
The US has shown differing approaches to the crypto-regulatory environment, including several individual states taking it upon themselves to become trailblazers in crypto-regulation and enforcement. Statutes in several states are being enacted to require licensing for money-services or transmitter businesses, for example.
In our latest podcast, available on the Thomson Reuters Institute Market Insights channel, Gina Jurva, attorney and manager of market insights and thought leadership content for corporate and government at the Thomson Reuters Institute, speaks with one of the upcoming conference panelists, Jose Caldera, Chief Product Officer at Acuant, an AI-powered identity platform that provides identity verification, regulatory compliance, and digital identity solutions
The pair discuss how virtual currencies are being used by bad actors to move illegal money and fund terrorism, the recent rise of ransomware attacks, and how enhanced identity verification tools are a key component of fighting financial crime.
