Announcements / General

What are Virtual Currencies?

Have you read about Virtual Currency?

Virtual currency is a medium of exchange that operates like a currency in some environments but does not have all the attributes of real currency. In particular, virtual currency does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction. A convertible virtual currency either has an equivalent value in real currency, or acts as a substitute for real currency. In other words, it is a virtual currency that can be exchanged for real currency. – FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery, November 18 testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

Check out this ACFCS podcast in which FinCEN Director Shasky Calvery discusses virtual currencies and FinCEN’s role in regulating them.

Virtual currencies are “gaining traction in the United States and around the world as a legitimate payment system,” FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery, said in a podcast on ACFCS.org on November 13.

Director Shasky made clear, however, that “virtual currencies appear as a new player in the payment system and at FinCEN, as with the other payment systems, we ask them to comply with AML controls.”

You can read the Director’s November 18 testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs here.