Server-rendered tracker page for aml regulation in United States. This page is built for Google and LLM crawlers: every event below links to a permanent policy-event URL with source data and APAC FINSTAB analysis.
Jurisdiction: United States. Regulator: SEC / CFTC / Treasury / Congress. Topic: AML. Latest event: September 26, 2026 — CFTC Charges Cash FX Group Over Alleged $950M Fraud Scheme.
Use this page to compare rule changes, licensing signals, enforcement posture, and market-access implications for exchanges, stablecoin issuers, protocols, custodians and institutional teams operating across APAC.
The CFTC said Cash FX Group, its CEO and related parties were charged over an alleged $950 million retail forex and commodity pool fraud scheme. The action keeps high-yield crypto-adjacent investment programs in the enforcement frame for solicitation, referral and cross-border fund-flow controls.
The U.S. Justice Department charged Trung Nguyen Van with two money-laundering counts tied to a crypto pig-butchering scheme that allegedly drew about $16 million from one victim. The case reinforces exchange monitoring pressure around large victim-origin deposits, wallet tracing and fraud-to-laundering handoffs.
Tether said assets held with EQIBank represent less than 0.034% of total assets after reports that the offshore digital bank faces liquidation pressure following U.S. asset seizures. The case highlights stablecoin reserve-bank concentration, seizure risk and redemption resilience controls.
The SEC charged a South Florida resident and his company over an alleged scheme targeting law-enforcement investors, including claims tied to crypto-asset trading. The case keeps retail crypto-fraud solicitation, fake profit screenshots, and unregistered fund activity inside the SEC enforcement perimeter.
Visa is reportedly directing processors to stop classifying memecoin purchases as digital-media transactions, affecting card rewards, issuer risk controls and wallet checkout compliance for crypto purchases.
OFAC sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchange BitBank, its developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three associated individuals, linking the platform to Babak Zanjani's sanctions-evasion network. Exchanges and payment firms should refresh sanctions screening, wallet attribution and Iran-related flow controls.
Column launched a stablecoin service that connects USDC and USDT conversion directly to its own bank core, supporting 24/7 stablecoin-fiat movement alongside SWIFT, RTP and ACH rails. The model compresses settlement time but makes real-time AML screening, chain analytics, refund handling and fiat-clearing status part of the same control stack.
U.S. prosecutors charged two former Robinhood engineers with commodities fraud and wire fraud for allegedly using confidential crypto listing information to trade perpetual futures on Hyperliquid before public announcements. The case expands listing-control compliance beyond exchange employee accounts to third-party on-chain and derivatives venues.
US DOJ-linked case updates show Malone Lam pleading guilty over a USD 245 million Bitcoin theft and Adam Iza receiving a 15-year sentence for financing a crypto-related kidnapping and robbery. The cases underscore how stolen crypto proceeds, luxury asset purchases and physical coercion are converging in enforcement workflows.
A Financial Times report relayed in the policy channel says Iran-linked actors are using Bitcoin and USDT to bypass US sanctions. Compliance teams need tighter sanctions screening, address clustering, stablecoin freeze-status checks and fiat off-ramp monitoring for Iran-linked flows.
Block applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form Builders Bank & Trust, N.A. as an uninsured national trust bank for bitcoin, stablecoin and fiduciary custody services. If approved, the federal trust-bank path would move private-key control, customer asset segregation, BSA/AML governance and stablecoin custody duties under OCC supervision.
FinCEN published an analysis identifying nearly $13 billion in suspected digital asset scam activity operated by overseas scam centers. The alert raises BSA monitoring expectations around USDT flows, DeFi conversion paths, and suspicious activity reporting by financial institutions.
Ledger reportedly faces a class action in the Southern District of New York alleging failures to protect customer personally identifiable information and to disclose a December 2023 security incident in time. The case pushes wallet and custody due diligence beyond private-key controls into PII collection, retention, breach notification and phishing-risk governance.
The Justice Department said court-authorized actions let the FBI seize more than $560,000 in cryptocurrency and take control of online infrastructure tied to Hamas fundraising. Exchanges, stablecoin issuers and wallet providers need sanctions screening, domain intelligence and law-enforcement response procedures that can connect on-chain flows with off-chain infrastructure.
Robinhood Wallet and Fomo users can reportedly buy memecoins through Crossmint card payments without a separate point-of-sale KYC flow. The structure puts wallet front ends, payment processors, card networks and token checkout AML monitoring into the same compliance chain.
Two Thai merchants reportedly sued Tether in the Southern District of New York over roughly $42.4 million in USDT frozen after an informal HSI request before a later seizure order. The dispute highlights legal-risk questions around issuer freeze authority, court process, asset seizure and user recovery rights.
A U.S. House proposal would restrict senior public officials and certain family members from holding or trading digital assets, commodities, futures, prediction market contracts and related derivatives. If advanced, the bill would increase compliance sensitivity around political tokens, public-official disclosure and event contracts linked to government action.
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal asked the SEC to investigate the TRUMP token while California advanced a bill targeting digital assets linked to public officials. The combined federal request and state legislative track put issuer disclosures, conflict controls, exemptions and secondary market activity under closer review.
The OCC and FDIC advanced a final rule defining unsafe or unsound banking practices around material financial risk and legal compliance. The action may limit reputation-risk-only debanking of lawful digital asset firms while pushing banks to document crypto client risk decisions with stronger evidence.
The SEC charged 38 entities with using false adviser filings and misleading registration appearances to solicit retail investors. Crypto investment platforms citing adviser, broker or fund-manager credentials face higher diligence expectations around raw registration records and marketing claims.
The CFTC warned that crypto ATMs can convert cash into irreversible digital asset transfers and may be used by criminals to obscure fund flows. The notice raises compliance pressure around cash-in controls, user warnings, address screening and scam monitoring for kiosk operators and connected platforms.
A federal jury convicted Block Bits Capital co-founder Japheth Dillman of wire fraud and conspiracy tied to a cryptocurrency trading fund pitch. The case reinforces U.S. enforcement risk around crypto fund solicitation, performance claims, custody controls and investor-use-of-proceeds disclosures.
Bybit said it sued North Korea and Lazarus Group over the $1.5 billion ETH theft and secured a preliminary injunction freezing identified stolen assets held by John Doe defendants. The case raises exchange, custodian and wallet-service exposure to tracing, freezing and disclosure obligations for sanctioned cybercrime proceeds.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled a major coordinated financial offensive against Iran, adding pressure to sanctions regimes that already touch banking, energy and crypto channels. Exchanges and stablecoin issuers should prepare for rapid list updates, counterparty reviews and blockchain-address screening changes.
Cambodian anti-drug officials and U.S. authorities uncovered a network allegedly laundering funds for Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and confiscated about $7 million in cryptocurrency. The case raises AML, sanctions-screening and law-enforcement cooperation pressure for exchanges, wallets and on-chain monitoring teams.
Zcash Open Development Lab said its Pretty Good Policy for Zcash initiative is becoming an independent 501(c)(4) policy advocacy organization and is seeking a $750,000 first-year grant. The move signals more organized privacy-coin policy engagement as privacy assets face ETF, exchange-listing and AML scrutiny.
Hawaii will ban the ownership, operation and management of crypto ATMs and digital-asset transaction terminals from October 1. The state-level ban reflects growing consumer-protection and fraud concerns around cash-to-crypto access points.
BitMart's wind-down and U.S.-user withdrawal cutoff have drawn scrutiny over withdrawal access, position closures, KYC, source-of-funds checks and wallet ownership controls. The case highlights exchange exit-planning obligations, customer asset handling and evidence trails for compliance-driven freezes or delayed withdrawals.
Bybit filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against North Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau and Lazarus Group over the February 2025 hack, with a preliminary injunction freezing linked assets. The case turns a major exchange breach into a sanctions, evidence-preservation and cross-border recovery precedent.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned crypto exchanges and related entities including Shelbit Exchange and Aban Tether for alleged links to IRGC financing and sanctions evasion. Exchanges and stablecoin intermediaries should refresh screening controls for Iran-linked counterparties, wallets and settlement flows.
U.S. authorities sentenced MyTrade founder Liu Zhou over conspiracy involving market manipulation and wire fraud, with the case focused on bots that generated artificial trading volume for digital assets. The action reinforces exchange surveillance expectations around wash trading, market makers and token liquidity claims.
The CFTC ordered UBS Financial Services Inc. to pay $8 million for failing to diligently supervise configuration and operation of AML transaction monitoring systems for foreign-currency wires. The action reinforces that monitoring-system governance, alert coverage and supervisory evidence are core compliance controls even outside crypto-native firms.
Minnesota became the first US state to ban cryptocurrency kiosks, requiring machines to go offline on August 1 and be removed by year-end. The ban reflects a shift from KYC and limits toward outright restrictions where crypto ATM fraud losses remain high.
The US Treasury sanctioned Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority over an IRGC-backed Strait of Hormuz extortion scheme, noting that digital asset payments were used to help evade sanctions. The action adds maritime insurance and shipping-service crypto payments to sanctions-screening watchlists.
US authorities filed a civil forfeiture action seeking roughly 2.118 million USDT tied to alleged Southeast Asia pig-butchering investment fraud. The case highlights continued law-enforcement focus on USDT flows through social-engineering scams, fake trading venues and cross-border laundering networks.
Drop Site News reported that Consensys unknowingly hired a DPRK-linked developer consultant who used the Tyler Knapp alias and worked on MetaMask-related code. The case turns developer onboarding, vendor screening, repository access and sanctions controls into a front-line wallet compliance issue.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Zhuoying Chen and Haojie Zhang with conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to online investment scams. The indictment alleges a network of roughly 45 shell companies and 140 bank accounts moved more than USD 43 million to co-conspirators in China, reinforcing shell-company and cross-border payout red flags for crypto-linked scam proceeds.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned First VPN Service, its administrator Dmytro Rashevskyi, and cryptor seller Yegeniy Silayev for supporting ransomware actors targeting U.S. hospitals, schools, businesses and public-sector entities. The action expands AML screening pressure around anonymization infrastructure, malware-obfuscation services and related crypto payment flows.
Alaska's SB 249 creates a virtual currency kiosk framework with consumer protections, transaction controls and an October 1, 2026 effective date. The law adds another state-level template for crypto ATM licensing, registration and fraud-prevention obligations.
The U.S. DOJ reportedly brought new charges against RG Coins founder Rossen Iossifov, alleging that he transferred or destroyed about $290,000 in forfeited cryptocurrency while serving a sentence. The case reinforces continuing enforcement risk around crypto exchangers, forfeiture orders and laundering controls.
Binance denied reports that it would reduce U.S. law enforcement cooperation or stop courtesy freezes, saying a DOJ memo may have misread ADGM license obligations. The dispute shows how exchange asset-freeze workflows can be complicated by cross-border licensing, MLAT routing and local regulator guidance.
Block agreed to a $45 million multistate settlement resolving allegations that Cash App misled consumers about safety and failed to protect users from scams and fraud. The case raises consumer-protection and anti-fraud control expectations for payment apps and wallet-like financial products.
FBI complaint data cited by Texas officials show nearly 1,200 Texans lost about $56.8 million to crypto kiosk scams last year, prompting lawmakers and law enforcement to call for regulation or bans. The episode highlights cash-to-crypto kiosks as a high-risk AML, fraud and consumer-protection entry point.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran, Russia, North Korea and other sanctioned actors handled about USD100 billion in crypto last year, citing blockchain analytics firms and Western authorities. The scale reinforces pressure on exchanges, stablecoin issuers and bridges to strengthen sanctions screening and illicit-flow monitoring.
The United States, Japan and South Korea advanced trilateral cooperation against DPRK cyber-enabled revenue generation, citing reported thefts from KelpDAO and Drift Protocol and the need to disrupt laundering, IT-worker infiltration and crypto theft networks. The coordination raises sanctions and counterparty-screening pressure on DeFi protocols, exchanges and service providers.
IRS Criminal Investigation published a June 26 forfeiture notice listing USDT, BTC, ETH, XRP and other crypto assets under civil forfeiture authority. The notice highlights continued U.S. use of forfeiture processes for cross-border crypto proceeds and high-risk wallet review.
House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters asked the U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw a proposed safe harbor for alternative assets in 401(k) plans, including digital assets. The comment keeps crypto retirement-account access under investor-protection and fiduciary-duty scrutiny.
New Hampshire legislation will add consumer-protection controls for crypto ATMs, including a USD2,000 daily transaction cap and a 48-hour cancellation and refund window for scam victims. The state-level rule raises compliance expectations for retail cash-to-crypto entry points.
TRM Labs traced more than $3.84 billion in blockchain-verified flows between CoinEx and sanctioned Iranian entities across more than seven years. The finding raises AML and sanctions-screening pressure on exchanges and counterparties exposed to Iran-linked transaction paths.
The OCC issued Bulletin 2026-28 on proposed AML/CFT and sanctions compliance standards for permitted payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. The rulemaking formalizes customer identification, BSA and sanctions expectations for stablecoin issuance and raises the compliance bar for dollar stablecoin counterparties.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration posted an official forfeiture notice listing multiple Tether assets totaling about 1.66 million USDT, including seizures tied to unidentified parties in El Salvador and Wolfbite S.A.S. in Colombia. The notice reinforces stablecoin seizure and forfeiture as a routine law-enforcement workflow for crypto asset exposure.
The FDIC, Federal Reserve, OCC, NCUA and FinCEN proposed a GENIUS Act rule requiring permitted payment stablecoin issuers to be treated as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act and maintain customer identification programs. The proposal moves stablecoin issuance toward bank-style AML/KYC onboarding and reliance controls.
Early Warning Services announced Zelle's first international expansion to India and unveiled ZelleUSD, a proprietary U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin intended to support future international payment capabilities. A bank-owned P2P network moving into stablecoin remittances raises reserve, issuer, AML and cross-border licensing questions for bank-led payment rails.
Delaware's House Economic Committee advanced House Bill 441 to ban installation, ownership or operation of cryptocurrency kiosks and require removal of existing machines within 90 days after effectiveness. The bill shows U.S. state policy moving from transaction limits toward outright prohibition for fraud-heavy cash-to-crypto channels.
The U.S. Justice Department said Geoffrey K. Auyeung was sentenced to five years in prison after nearly $100 million in fraud proceeds moved through bank accounts linked to cryptocurrency exchanges. The case reinforces crypto exchange account monitoring obligations around investment-fraud proceeds and cross-border laundering networks.
Hyperliquid Policy Center and Paradigm urged the U.S. Treasury to revise proposed FinCEN and OFAC rules implementing the GENIUS Act. Their position would concentrate stablecoin issuer compliance duties around primary issuance while clarifying sanctions obligations for secondary and decentralized markets.
Kalshi will collect employment information from customers trading in markets scored as high risk for insider trading or market manipulation. The move tightens market-integrity controls for regulated prediction markets as CFTC and DOJ scrutiny of event-contract trading intensifies.
HTX said World Liberty Financial unilaterally froze HTX-linked on-chain addresses after sanctions-compliance reviews, forcing HTX to suspend WLFI and USD1-related markets. The case turns issuer blacklist authority into a direct exchange listing and custody risk for sanction-sensitive tokens and stablecoins.
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt defended the CLARITY Act as a pro-regulatory and pro-enforcement bill despite concerns from law enforcement groups over AML safeguards. Senator Cynthia Lummis warned that failure to pass the bill this year could delay comprehensive U.S. crypto market-structure legislation until 2030.
OFAC designated Iran-based Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex under Iran sanctions, warning foreign financial institutions and non-U.S. persons of secondary sanctions exposure. The action raises AML and sanctions-screening pressure on crypto exchanges, OTC brokers, and USDT-linked Iran corridors.
The CFTC awarded more than $8 million to five whistleblowers whose information supported an enforcement action against a fraudulent scheme. The awards reinforce the agency's retail-fraud enforcement capacity and tip-based surveillance model for derivatives and crypto-adjacent markets.
Circle blacklisted a Zama confidential USDC contract after a wallet linked to Overnight Finance was flagged in litigation, trapping roughly $12.6 million of shared cUSDC liquidity. The case shows how stablecoin compliance actions can create contract-level collateral damage for privacy wrappers, yield pools and other pooled stablecoin products.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency assets, nearly doubling the prior disclosed figure. The statement reinforces sanctions-screening pressure on stablecoin, exchange and chain-analytics workflows tied to Iran exposure.
The CFTC charged a Google software engineer with fraud and money laundering over alleged non-public-information trading on Polymarket event contracts. The case turns prediction markets into a live enforcement template for MNPI controls, employee access governance and event-contract surveillance.
ICIJ reported that Kraken transferred at least $1.1 billion of bitcoin to crypto ATM operators, including flows to Athena Bitcoin after official scrutiny of ATM fraud. The report increases pressure on exchanges and liquidity providers to monitor downstream ATM and cash-out channels.
California's DFPI announced a settlement requiring Hermes Bitcoin to cease operating all digital financial asset kiosks in California by May 20, citing alleged state-law violations and consumer-protection failures. The action keeps crypto ATM operators under heightened AML, fee-disclosure and fraud-prevention scrutiny.
The FDIC approved a proposed rule requiring FDIC-supervised permitted payment stablecoin issuers to follow BSA, AML/CFT, sanctions and reporting standards under the GENIUS Act. The proposal extends bank-style illicit-finance supervision and enforcement expectations into stablecoin issuance.
Treasury's FinCEN and OFAC proposal would require permitted payment stablecoin issuers to maintain AML/CFT and sanctions compliance programs under the GENIUS Act. The framework pushes stablecoin issuance toward bank-like illicit-finance controls and formal sanctions screening obligations.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway sued CoinFlip parent GPD Holdings, alleging the crypto ATM operator facilitated scam transactions while profiting from them. The case raises state-level consumer-protection and anti-fraud expectations for cash-to-crypto rails.
OFAC sanctioned a Sinaloa Cartel-linked laundering network, with TRM Labs identifying six Ethereum addresses connected to the action. The case reinforces the need for exchanges and custodians to update sanctions screening with cartel, fentanyl, and on-chain cluster typologies.
Bitcoin Depot reportedly filed for Chapter 11 and moved to wind down a network of more than 9,000 crypto ATMs amid regulatory, fraud, and financial pressure. The case highlights how state-level ATM controls and AML expectations can directly reshape fiat-to-crypto access channels.
Chinese, US, and UAE police conducted a joint Dubai enforcement action against telecom-fraud networks, arresting 276 suspects across nine sites. The case involved high-return crypto investment lures and signals deeper law-enforcement coordination around pig-butchering and cross-border VASP risk.
Iran reportedly launched Hormuz Safe, a state-backed maritime insurance platform that can settle policies in bitcoin for Persian Gulf cargo operators. The model links BTC payments to sanctioned maritime activity and may force exchanges and brokers to screen Hormuz-related flows under OFAC secondary-sanctions risk.
Bitcoin Depot warned that restrictive Bitcoin ATM rules, enhanced KYC processes, delayed filings and more than $20 million in legal judgments have created substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. The filing shows how AML, fraud-prevention and state-level kiosk rules can directly reshape the viability of crypto cash-in/out networks.