This guidance was issued to “provide clarity and regulatory certainty for businesses and individuals engaged in an expanding field of financial activity.” Or put another way, FinCEN explains who exactly they intend to regulate.
FinCEN covers their bases here discussing “users, administrators, and exchangers… persons creating, obtaining, distributing, exchanging, accepting or transmitting” virtual currencies, both centralized and de-centralized, e-currencies and e-precious metals.
- FinCEN sees those dealing in virtual currencies as their regulatory responsibility
- Users, and Bitcoin miners seem to be exempt from regulation for the moment
- Buying or selling virtual currencies for “any reason” can make you a money transmitter and subject to FinCEN regulation
- Virtual currency dealers are NOT necessarily foreign exchange dealers
- FinCEN rules can also apply to those dealing in e-precious metals
- However, Prepaid Access rules do NOT apply to virtual currencies
Summary below.
