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ARTICLE · 12 OCTOBER 2022

OFAC Announces Hefty Settlement With Virtual Currency Exchange / Hosted Wallet Services Provider

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Today, on October 11, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $24,280,829.20 settlement agreement with Bittrex, Inc., an online virtual currency exchange and hosted wallet service provider.

United StatesInternational Law
Fatema Merchant
Fatema Merchant
Jonathan Wang
Jonathan Wang
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Settlement Agreement with Bittrex, Inc.

Today, on October 11, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $24,280,829.20 settlement agreement with Bittrex, Inc., an online virtual currency exchange and hosted wallet service provider, in connection with 116,421 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs. This enforcement action highlights the OFAC compliance risks for virtual currency platforms. So, assess your risks and take steps to make sure you're addressing them with smart compliance and screening measures.

Background

Bittrex began offering its virtual currency services in March 2014, but had no sanctions compliance program in place until December 2015. On February 2016, Bittrex retained a third-party vendor for sanctions screening purposes but the screening was apparently incomplete. The screening only looked for hits against OFAC's List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) and other lists but did not

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