http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=cea81012-6bb1-478f-b392-9df355d994ecNational Money Transmitters Association, Inc.
12 Welwyn Road, Suite C
Great Neck, New York 11021
(516) 829-2742
May 14, 2014
Dear Colleague,
We are excited to announce the 2nd annual Virtual Currencies Compliance Conference ("VC3-2014") to be held on August 13th 2014. The setting once again will be the beautiful New York City Bar Association building, located in Midtown Manhattan, so please mark your calendar!
VC3 was created last year to provide an overview of the US regulatory landscape for those virtual currency firms FinCEN had recently dubbed "money transmitters." We thought those firms might have a lot of questions about the new legal environment they had just entered. In the time that has passed since then, the large number of regulatory inquiries that we receive almost daily, confirm how true that conjecture turned out to be.
This year, VC3-2014 will drill down further, focusing on getting practical advice to those who need it. We will explore ways start-ups can succeed, in spite of the many compliance challenges they face. We will look at:
Doing "Remote KYC" - Most virtual currencies firms will be doing business on the web, and so will have to get to know their customers with no face-to-face, in-person interaction. We will examine the methods available, the choices that firms must make, and analyze the trade-offs involved.
Designing the Operation - All money transmitters must create and administer compliance programs that are reasonably designed to detect, prevent and report money laundering. We will look at exactly what that entails for virtual currency firms, and the systems and controls they must build.
Complying With Legal and Regulatory Requirements - There is sometime confusion and concern - even for regulators - when money transmitter requirements are applied to the virtual currency realm. Selling virtual currencies is a unique form of money transmission, radically unlike any other. It demands that we implement - and sometimes invent - procedures that adapt to existing norms, with as little friction as possible.
The importance of a knowledgeable compliance officer who knows how to automate compliance
Best practices for setting and enforcing dollar thresholds
How software and transaction monitoring should be set up for virtual currencies
How regulatory compliance can bring trust and legitimacy to the industry
An investor's perspective on the importance of compliance
Prepaid access regulations and compliance as they relate to virtual currency operations
We are getting an earlier start than we did last year, so we want to hear from you: we want to know what topics you think are most pressing, where you believe the most danger - and the most opportunity - will come from. If you are interested in participating, or if you have any thoughts or ideas you would like to share, please contact me or VC3's Event Coordinator, Brian Nelson, at
bnelson@nmta.us. Speaking and sponsorship opportunities are available.
As a completely separate event, I will be giving an all-day class on general AML compliance topics on August 12, 2014, the day before VC3. Sign-up forms for both events will be up next week.
I look forward to greeting you at VC3-2014, in August!
Regards,
-David
