Partner Jeffrey Alberts, Chair of Pryor Cashman’s White Collar Defense & Investigations practice and a member of the Litigation and Banking & Finance Groups, co-authored the article, "Criminalizing Free Enterprise: The Bank Secrecy Act and the Cryptocurrency Revolution," published in the July 2, 2015 issue of Westlaw's Computer & Internet Journal. The article was also published in the August 2015 issue of the Westlaw White-Collar Crime Journal.

In the piece, Alberts discusses FinTech companies' use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to challenge traditional banking models. FinTech companies have also been offering new financial products that cut costs and increase market efficiency. Strict enforcement of anti-money laundering statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and regulations that were drafted to apply to larger, traditional financial institutions threaten to put the brakes on FinTech developments that utilize cryptocurrencies. This article explains how the BSA can be applied to FinTech companies that make use of cryptocurrencies, summarizes recent trends in BSA enforcement, and discusses steps that FinTech companies can take to avoid criminal liability under the BSA.

The full article can be viewed here.

To read about other developments in the FinTech space, check out the FinTech Monitor, Pryor Cashman's blog which supplies the latest news on this rapidly-developing industry. Our FinTech attorneys offer insight on complex legal issues facing the industry, along with updates on everything from regulatory developments to enforcement actions, virtual currency and mobile banking.