Financial Transparency Coalition

Bitcoin can be sent from anywhere to anywhere at a very low cost, while simultaneously keeping a user’s identity hidden. This all sounds convenient for online payments, but without proper regulations, the use of crypto-currency could easily lead to tax evasion. Bitcoin was launched in 2009, as the world’s first crypto-currency. Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for the unknown person or group of people responsible, created the revolutionary currency. One key feature of Bitcoin is its decentralized nature, which doesn’t require regulators or bankers, resulting in low transaction costs. However, this also poses severe...

Since February of last year, the European Union has made money laundering and terrorist financing a central focus. In reviewing and updating the third Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), the European Union has tried to target the process by which criminal proceeds and illicit funds are moved throughout the continent and beyond. We’ve been following their progress closely, and have advocated for sensible reform to allow the EU to set the standard on anti-money laundering. But to be the standard-bearer on financial transparency, EU decision-makers must regulate the anonymous legal entities that...

On Monday, U.S. authorities are set to announce a massive $8.9 million fine on the French bank BNP Paribas. The fine is part of a deal under which the bank will pay for allegedly breaching U.S. sanctions with Iran, Sudan, and Cuba and handling $30 billion in transactions from those nations. Fines like this, even

This article, written by the FTC’s EU campaigner, Koen Roovers, originally appeared on OpenDemocracy.net.  There’s an old saying that the legislative process is a lot like making sausages – it’s confusing, messy, and you don’t really want to know how it’s done. The European institutions in Brussels, the butcher shop in this case, decide how