One reason for that decline is that while the number of incidents of thefts, hacks, and fraud remained largely the same, the take by criminals in 2019 was 160% higher than in 2020. This indicates growing “maturity in the crypto space as entities continue to harden systems and take precautions against inside and outside threats,” the report said.
Outgoing Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin caused an outcry on Dec. 18, when the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced the new rule requiring banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other money services businesses to collect know-your-customer (KYC) data about anyone who wants to transfer $3,000 or more to or from an “unhosted” wallet.
The Seychelles-based exchange has been under severe pressure since the Oct. 1 indictment, when the four executives were charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to put an acceptable user identity verification program in place.
Major United States-based crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s fintech Square, and financial services giant Fidelity are among the firms that recently filed comments with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network strongly opposing the proposed new rules.
