News, standards updates and audit guidance for crypto-accounting teams, covering reporting, compliance and regulatory developments.
Dubai's VARA has published one of the most detailed crypto regulatory frameworks globally, with direct implications for VASP licensing, AML/CFT obligations, and asset segregation, plus a firm prohibition on privacy coins that accounting firms and compliance teams must absorb immediately.
Three simultaneous regulatory moves, NYDFS-EBA stablecoin MOU, Hong Kong VATP and advisory licensing, and CFTC perpetual futures approvals, are reshaping the cross-border compliance obligations of stablecoin issuers, VASPs, and digital asset firms in 2026.
OFAC adds 134 ISIS-K and PCC-linked crypto wallets to SDN list on 1 July 2026, triggering immediate screening and transaction monitoring obligations for VASPs and financial institutions globally.
Approval phishing is a scalable, infrastructure-reusing scam that compliance teams can systematically detect and disrupt using on-chain intelligence and coordinated law enforcement protocols.
Five on-chain financial crime typologies compliance teams at banks, fintechs, and custodians must embed in their AML/CFT frameworks now
A practical framework for embedding blockchain analytics into institutional AML workflows across all three lines of defense
AML and compliance obligations triggered by the Huione Guarantee marketplace processing over $11 billion in USDT, with implications for transaction screening, SAR filing, and sanctions exposure at regulated firms globally
How mixers and privacy wallets undermine crypto compliance screening, and what accounting firms and auditors must do to manage the exposure
Cross-chain bridges enable large-scale crypto laundering beyond current AML controls, creating urgent compliance exposure for firms handling digital assets
Regulated crypto firms do not need a novel governance model: the three-lines-of-defense framework from traditional finance already meets what regulators expect globally, and firms that ignore it face personal liability.
A five-stage blockchain risk maturity framework helps financial institutions benchmark AML/CFT readiness and build toward strategic digital asset capability
State-federal jurisdictional clash over prediction market sports betting creates licensing and compliance risk for firms servicing event-contract platforms
State vs federal jurisdiction clash over prediction markets licensing creates compliance uncertainty for firms offering or auditing event-contract platforms
OFAC adds 130+ ISIS-linked Tron wallets to the SDN list, raising immediate screening and due-diligence obligations for crypto businesses and their advisers.
The IRS merges the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Return Preparer Office into the new Tax Professional Management Office, effective June 28, over AICPA objections about conflicts of interest and credential confusion.
State-level crypto ATM bans accelerate across the US and Canada signals a federal crackdown, raising VASP licensing, AML, and operator liability questions for accounting and compliance teams
Huione Group has become the largest illicit online marketplace ever recorded, with its own unregulated stablecoin USDH designed to evade asset freezes. Accounting firms and compliance teams need to understand the transaction volumes, the USDH exposure risk, and the AML obligations this creates.
OFAC's SDN list now includes identified on-chain addresses, raising the compliance bar for every firm that touches crypto assets
TIGTA finds IRS cannot centrally track all 1,124+ federal tax information data-sharing agreements, raising governance and FTI protection concerns for tax practitioners and compliance teams
Chainalysis formalises a two-tier evidentiary ontology for blockchain analytics, giving compliance teams, auditors, and courts a shared vocabulary for data quality accountability
FinCEN formally launches a whistleblower tip portal covering BSA, sanctions, and money laundering violations, with financial awards for actionable submissions that lead to enforcement.
The FBI's action against Huione Group, the largest illicit crypto marketplace ever recorded, signals a new baseline for AML due diligence and stablecoin transaction screening at regulated firms.
UBS and Nethermind's proofs of concept show that embedding compliance at block-production level, not just in smart contracts, could reshape how regulators and banks treat permissionless blockchains under Basel capital rules.
