Centralized exchange in United States

SEC — regulates crypto assets that are securities and transactions in them, including broker-dealer and exchange registration under the Exchange Act. Its 17 March 2026 interpretation (Rel. 33-11412, 91 FR 13714) sets a token taxonomy of digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities, and applies the Howey test to determine when a non-security crypto asset is subject to an investment contract.

CFTC — administers the Commodity Exchange Act for crypto assets that are commodities (the 17 March 2026 SEC interpretation, joined by the CFTC, lists Bitcoin and Ether as digital commodities), regulates crypto derivatives, holds anti-fraud and anti-manipulation authority over commodity spot markets (7 U.S.C. 9), and since 4 December 2025 has permitted listed spot crypto trading on CFTC-registered exchanges.

FinCEN — Treasury bureau (31 U.S.C. 310) that administers the Bank Secrecy Act: MSB registration on Form 107 within 180 days of establishment and every two years (31 CFR 1022.380), and the funds-transfer recordkeeping and travel rule for transmittals of $3,000 or more (31 CFR 1010.410(e)-(f)).

OFAC — administers U.S. economic sanctions, which apply to virtual currency transactions; on 15 October 2021 it published 'Sanctions Compliance Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry'.

IRS — administers federal tax on digital assets, which are treated as property, not currency; brokers report digital-asset sales on Form 1099-DA beginning with transactions on or after 1 January 2025.

DOJ — prosecutes federal crimes involving crypto assets, including money laundering (18 U.S.C. 1956) and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business (18 U.S.C. 1960), as well as fraud and sanctions-evasion offences.

Bank Secrecy Act (Public Law 91-508, 1970; codified at 31 U.S.C. 5311 et seq.) is the federal AML/CFT statute. It requires reports and records useful in criminal, tax and regulatory investigations and requires money transmitting businesses to register with Treasury (31 U.S.C. 5330), implemented by FinCEN Form 107 within 180 days of establishment and renewal every two years (31 CFR 1022.380).

Securities Act of 1933 section 5 (15 U.S.C. 77e) prohibits offers and sales of securities without an effective registration statement or an exemption, and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 section 15 (15 U.S.C. 78o) requires brokers and dealers to register with the SEC. Their application to crypto assets is set out in the SEC interpretation of 17 March 2026 (Rel. 33-11412, 91 FR 13714), which the CFTC joined.

New York BitLicense (23 NYCRR Part 200) (2015) — NY-specific virtual currency business licensing

California DFAL (2025) — Digital Financial Assets Law — state crypto licensing

VASP: FinCEN MSB registration (immediate, Form 107) + state Money Transmitter Licenses in 49 states + DC (18-36 months for full coverage, $2M-$10M+ in bonds/fees). Montana is sole exemption.

Custody: federally, national banks and federal savings associations may custody crypto assets (OCC Interpretive Letter 1183, 7 March 2025) and the OCC conditionally approved five national trust bank charters for digital-asset custodians on 12 December 2025; broker-dealers holding crypto asset securities are subject to Rule 15c3-3 possession requirements (SEC staff statement, 17 December 2025); and on 6 October 2026 the SEC proposed crypto custody rules for registered advisers and funds (91 FR 63870). State trust charters are available separately under state law.

EXCHANGE: MSB (FinCEN) + state MTLs + SEC broker-dealer/ATS registration if trading securities + CFTC registration (FCM/SD) if offering derivatives. NY BitLicense required for NY customers (12-24+ months, $2M+ capital).

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN): administers the Bank Secrecy Act AML/CFT regime. Under FIN-2013-G001 (18 March 2013) an administrator or exchanger of convertible virtual currency is a money transmitter and therefore a money services business; FIN-2019-G001 (9 May 2019) consolidates that guidance and applies it to further CVC business models. Each MSB must register with FinCEN on Form 107 within 180 days of establishment and renew every two years (31 CFR 1022.380).

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Oversees digital assets deemed securities, including issuance and resale; issued a March 17, 2026, interpretation clarifying federal securities laws' application to crypto assets and transactions, stating most crypto assets are not securities.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): regulates commodities and derivatives under the Commodity Exchange Act; signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SEC on 11 March 2026 to coordinate oversight and support lawful innovation (SEC PR 2026-26), and joined the SEC’s 17 March 2026 interpretation on crypto assets (Rel. 33-11412, 91 FR 13714), which the CFTC administers the CEA consistently with.

State regulators: Examples include California's DFPI (Digital Financial Assets Law effective July 1, 2026, requiring licenses with $100k/day penalties); New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance; New York's NYDFS (BitLicense regime); Connecticut (money transmitter laws).

The US travel rule (31 CFR 1010.410(f), issued 1995) requires financial institutions, including CVC money transmitters, to pass transmittor and recipient information with any transmittal of funds of $3,000 or more, domestic or cross-border; FinCEN guidance FIN-2019-G001 (9 May 2019) confirms it covers CVC. A 2020 FinCEN/Federal Reserve proposal to cut the cross-border threshold to $250 (85 FR 68005) is not reflected in the 2025 CFR. Separately, currency transactions over $10,000 require a currency transaction report (31 CFR 1010.311).

The Funds Travel Rule (now 31 CFR 1010.410(f)) was issued by FinCEN on 3 January 1995 (60 FR 234) alongside the joint FinCEN/Federal Reserve recordkeeping rule (60 FR 220). FinCEN guidance FIN-2019-G001 of 9 May 2019 confirmed that transactions involving convertible virtual currency qualify as transmittals of funds and therefore fall within the rule.

The travel-rule threshold is $3,000 or more per transmittal of funds, or its equivalent in convertible virtual currency; at or above it the transmittor’s financial institution must include the transmittor’s name, account number and address and the recipient information it received in the transmittal order (31 CFR 1010.410(f); FIN-2019-G001).

The travel rule applies to financial institutions, which for crypto means persons that are money transmitters under 31 CFR 1010.100(ff)(5). FIN-2019-G001 (9 May 2019) treats CVC exchangers and administrators, hosted wallet providers and owner-operators of CVC kiosks as money transmitters; a trading platform that only matches buyers and sellers without hosting their value, and a person using an unhosted wallet for its own purchases, are not.

For each transmittal of $3,000 or more, the transmittor’s financial institution must include in the transmittal order the transmittor’s name and account number, address, the amount, the execution date, the identity of the recipient’s financial institution, and as many recipient identifiers (name and address, account number, other specific identifier) as it received (31 CFR 1010.410(f)(1)); intermediary institutions must pass on the information they receive (1010.410(f)(2)). Supporting records are kept under 1010.410(e) for five years (1010.430).

FinCEN guidance FIN-2019-G001, Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Certain Business Models Involving Convertible Virtual Currencies (9 May 2019), states that CVC transactions qualify as transmittals of funds, so money transmitters must comply with the Funds Transfer Rule (31 CFR 1010.410(e)) and the Funds Travel Rule (1010.410(f)) for transmittals of $3,000 or more or the CVC equivalent, and must register with FinCEN within 180 days of starting money transmission.

The BSA Funds Travel Rule, 31 CFR 1010.410(f), issued in 1995, is the basis of the US travel-rule obligation; FinCEN’s 9 May 2019 guidance FIN-2019-G001 states that CVC transactions fall within it and that the guidance creates no new regulatory requirements.

On 18 June 2025 the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against more than $225.3 million in cryptocurrency that it alleges was laundered through a blockchain-based network dispersing proceeds of cryptocurrency investment-fraud ("confidence scam") schemes.

The New Jersey Division of Taxation uses automated tools to identify mismatches between reported cryptocurrency income and federal 1099 forms

New Jersey residents lost $435 million to cryptocurrency scams in 2024, ranking the state sixth among all states for total crypto fraud losses

CFTC fined a New York-based crypto trading firm $250,000 for violating speculative position limits on Bitcoin futures contracts. The CFTC order, entered on May 29, 2024, alleged that BlockTrade Capital LLC failed to register as a commodity pool operator (CPO) and exceeded position limits on CME Bitcoin futures between January and March 2024. The firm agreed to pay the fine and cease violations. CFTC Press Release 8731-24

CFTC issued a cease and desist order against CryptoPulse Advisors, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, for offering leveraged retail commodity transactions in digital assets without registration. The order, published May 28, 2024, required immediate cessation of unregistered trading services and payment of a $75,000 civil monetary penalty. CFTC Press Release 8730-24

The international actions (FCA, ESMA) highlight that regulatory harmonization (e.g., MiCAR in the EU) is prompting parallel enforcement, but the U.S. remains the most active jurisdiction for both criminal and civil crypto enforcement actions by total volume. Reuters, May 29, 2024