The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network warns the social media platform to issue tokens in accordance with the existing anti-money laundry procedures

In a speech delivered on the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Financial Crimes Conference, in New York, Jamal El-Hindi, deputy director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) stated the importance of enforcement of the AML rules on all social media platforms which are planning to release tokens or cryptocurrency. Even though it is not directly mentioned, this is mostly related to Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency Libra which is in the focus of regulators for the past year, and the announced native cryptocurrency from one of the leading online messaging platforms ‘Telegram’. Mr El-hindi stated: ‘Social media and messaging platforms and others now focusing on the establishment of cryptocurrencies cannot turn a blind eye to illicit transactions that they may be fostering’. He also added that the current financial system is in evolutionary state with respect to ways in which is dealing with new technologies such as those that involve virtual currency.