On April 25, the FBI advised Americans not to use unregistered cryptographic services to transmit assets.
The agency's warning states that users should avoid cryptocurrency transfer services that are not registered as money services businesses (MSBs) under U.S. federal law.
You should also avoid services that do not comply with anti-money laundering (AML) requirements or collect know-your-customer (KYC) information.
Users should check whether the service is registered as an MSB with the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Finsen). but, Even registration is not a “recommendation, validation, or approval” of the government, according to the notice.
Similarly, just because an app is listed in an app store doesn't necessarily mean it's a legitimate service, and third-party listings also don't imply government approval.
Users are at risk as they may experience “financial disruption” and loss of funds when authorities carry out enforcement actions. This notice does not imply that the authorities will impose fines or fines directly on users or targeted users as part of enforcement actions.
Recent US actions
The FBI said it recently conducted an enforcement operation against an unregistered virtual currency service, which the agency has learned from previous announcements.
Many of the cases involve charges related to operating an unlicensed financial services business and money laundering.
Various agencies, including the FBI, took action against Samourai Wallet on April 24, seizing the website and arresting two co-founders. Authorities have charged the founders with operating an unauthorized money transfer business due to the coin-mixing feature provided by Samurai Wallet, which was allegedly used for money laundering.
Other past incidents have targeted operators of coin mixers such as Tornado Cash, ChipMixer, and Helix, as well as operators of foreign cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bitzlato and BTC-e.
