August 8th, 2014
The U.S. Treasury is in the process of taking a big step toward making it harder for corrupt politicians, drug traffickers and terrorists to make use of the U.S. financial system, by forcing banks to know who their customers actually are.
This is something we have been
advocating for five years. Treasury recently released a proposed
rule and is seeking comment until October 3, 2014. There’s info on how to do that
here.
It’s worth explaining precisely what we think the problem is, and what the rule should look like if it is...
Continue Reading
August 6th, 2014
This week, almost 50 Africa heads of state are in Washington to meet with President Obama for the
largest summit ever between the US and Africa governments. But civil society leaders often are the ones holding their governments accountable, so it's imperative that they are involved in the process, as well. On Monday, the State Department hosted a forum for civil society organizations that featured Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden.
Continue Reading
August 1st, 2014
Monday marks the start of the
US-Africa Summit, a three-day event hosted by President Obama that will bring 50 African heads of state together in Washington. While there will be ample opportunities for government officials to interact, it's vital that civil society organizations (CSO) are heard, as well. On Monday, in addition to a CSO event held at the State Department,
Open Society Foundations, in partnership with a number of other CSOs, will be hosting an afternoon event to explore how financial transparency and good governance are vital to...
Continue Reading
July 31st, 2014
This week several analysts reported that the European Union is considering
regulating and
taxing the digital currency, Bitcoin. Specifically, the EU is looking to impose a Value Added Tax (VAT) on trades in bitcoin. Meanwhile, its plans to regulate the digital currency—whether imminent or not—
are still unclear.
Bitcoin presents short- and long-term risks to financial crime. Like tax havens and other jurisdictions with lax laws on beneficial ownership, Bitcoin presents criminals with an opportunity to keep their money and their transactions secret. Specifically, Bitcoin users don’t need to present an ID to receive a Bitcoin address—or key—so...
Continue Reading