FinCEN directs financial institutions to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) to inform law enforcement of certain types of cyber-enabled crime. As the agency charged with protecting the United States from financial crime, FinCEN's guidance does not deem financial institutions who process such transactions to be involved in a criminal activity.

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Bitcoin was created with security in mind. The Blockchain is Bitcoin's public ledger that records every transaction in the Bitcoin economy.

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Sometimes our greatest strengths are also our greatest weaknesses.

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A new product, technology, or innovation - such as Bitcoin - has the potential to give rise both to frauds and high-risk investment opportunities. Potential investors can be easily enticed with the promise of high returns in a new investment space and also may be less skeptical when assessing something novel, new, and cutting-edge.

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With Bitcoin, every transaction is publicly verified, so many risks are eliminated, including chargeback fraud or 'friendly fraud.' This is when a customer purchases something online with a credit card; waits to receive the goods or service, then requests a chargeback refund. The bank then forcibly takes the funds out of the merchant's account.

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Applying criminal law to the exchange of bitcoin on behalf of ransomware victims would create a morally shocking result of re-victimizing a victim. All lawfully operating digital currency exchanges would thereafter refuse to exchange bitcoin for ransomware victims for fear of criminal culpability.

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Blockchain startups are suffering from a crippling, archaic, and antiquated state regulatory system - and it's driving innovation abroad. Many blockchain start-ups trigger or may trigger money transmitter laws and regulations.

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Death is a dying industry with an economic phenomenon.

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The credit/debit card transaction system is antiquated, expensive, and inefficient. There are over nine steps to complete a transaction from the time a customer swipes their card to payment processing, settlement, and when the merchant finally gets paid. Every step along the way costs both the consumer and the vendor in additional fees.

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If you are not an accredited investor, you only have one option: to buy and hold bitcoin on your own. The process of acquiring bitcoin is risky and requires a lot of due diligence to navigate the landscape properly.

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In the US, banking and finance are regulated on the federal and state level, there are multiple federal bank regulators, and there are separate securities and commodities regulators.

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Investors need to understand the risk of individual exchanges before trusting their funds with them.

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Grief has similar side effects of alcohol consumption, such as numbness, guilt, and depression, resulting in less alert and price-sensitive customers. In addition, the funeral industry is somewhat taboo in the sense that communities in general don't communicate with one another about what are acceptable practices in this industry.

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Blockchain technology has such a wide range of transformational use cases, from recreating the plumbing of Wall Street to creating financial sovereignty in the farthest regions of the world.

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Digital assets, including bitcoin, could save small businesses substantial transaction fees and provide an added layer of security to their payment processing.

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The IRS issued guidance for virtual currencies on March 25, 2014 that stated virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, are to be treated as property for federal tax purposes. This requires capital gains on virtual currencies to be recorded and reported. The Bitcoin Foundation says this could lead to unrealistic reporting.

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There is no such thing as guaranteed high investment returns. Be wary of anyone who promises that you will receive a high rate of return on your investment with little or no risk.

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When you take a look at how the IRS treats foreign currency, bitcoin doesn't have the same taxation regime. Foreign currency gains and losses generally are taxed as ordinary income.

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Exchanging bitcoin on behalf of ransomware victims should not be construed as criminal activity by the exchanger, not as a matter of law nor as sound policy. Such an interpretation would set a precedent that would surely cause real harm to the public, to the blockchain ecosystem, and to the financial services industry as a whole.

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FinCEN directs financial institutions to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) to inform law enforcement of certain types of cyber-enabled crime. As the agency charged with protecting the United States from financial crime, FinCEN's guidance does not deem financial institutions who process such transactions to be involved in a criminal activity.

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The law provides a remedy, charging those who threaten a victim's data for the purpose of extortion. Extending criminal liability to innocent third-party digital currency exchangers, or any other third-party financial institution, would be an utterly unwarranted and unjust misinterpretation both of law and policy.

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