The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has released a new guidance on how cryptocurrency-related business should comply with its sanctions requirements and procedures.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.
According to the published document, technology companies, cryptocurrency exchangers, administrators, miners and wallet providers must comply with reporting and recordkeeping requirements and licensing procedures.
The reporting requirements are as follows:
- Initial Blocked Property Reports must be filed within 10 business days following the date that property is blocked.
- Annual Blocked Property Reports on all blocked property held as of June 30 of the current year must be filed annually no later than September 30 of each year.
- Rejected Transaction Reports must be filed within 10 business days of the date the transaction was rejected due to sanctions requirements.
- On Demand Reports of information related to transactions or property subject to OFAC’s regulations may be required by OFAC at any time, through an administrative subpoena.
The recordkeeping requirements describe a process of storing information on who engaged in transactions subject to OFAC's regulations, what transactions have been processed. The regulator requires cryptocurrency business to store these records for five years after the date of the transaction or, with respect to blocked property, five years after property is unblocked.
OFAC also says the businesses must use geolocation tools and IP address blocking controls to identify and prevent IP addresses that originate in sanctioned jurisdictions from accessing a company's website and services.
The guidance appears shortly after it has been reported that a group of officials from 32 governments had agreed to continue international scrutiny of cryptocurrencies to disrupt the ransomware business model.
Access more than 50 of the world's financial markets directly from your EXANTE account – including NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange.