US FinCEN Develops Virtual Currency Training Program For IRS Examiners

The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has worked recently with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to develop a training program in the virtual currency space for IRS examiners, said FinCEN director Jennifer Shasky Calvery during a speech at the ABA/ABA Money Laundering Enforcement Conference in Washington, DC.

Calvery said that at the federal level, FinCEN has delegated its examination authority for money services businesses (MSB) compliance with the federal anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory regime, under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), to the IRS.

“In the virtual currency area, we continue to work closely with our delegated BSA examiners at the IRS and launched a series of supervisory examinations of this industry earlier this year”, she said.

She added that these exams will help FinCEN determine whether "virtual currency exchangers and administrators are meeting their compliance obligations under the applicable rules."

Calvery also mentioned FinCEN’s enforcement action against Ripple taken earlier this year for BSA violations, CoinDesk reported.

“Where we identify problems...we will use our supervisory and enforcement authorities to appropriately penalize non-compliance and drive compliance improvements”, Calvery added.