Article: Are Nonfungible Tokens Subject to US Anti-Money Laundering Requirements?

Article - Media, Publications

Are Nonfungible Tokens Subject to US Anti-Money Laundering Requirements?

Jamie Boucher, Eytan Fisch, 19 April 2021

Rapidly growing interest in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) has been fueled by recent headlines of multimillion-dollar transactions, such as the $69 million sale of an NFT by digital artist Beeple — the third-highest price ever paid for the work of a living artist. An NFT is a certificate of ownership stored on a blockchain typically associated with a digital asset, such as art, videos, music, games, or tweets. Unlike certain other virtual assets on the blockchain, such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs are unique or “nonfungible.”

While the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)1 has not yet indicated whether certain NFT market participants (e.g., creators, sellers, dealers, marketplace operators) are or may become subject to U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory requirements, recent developments and concerns of U.S. lawmakers and regulators regarding the financial crime risks associated with virtual assets make regulatory scrutiny of NFTs likely..

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Article: What Cos. Need To Know Before Entering Nascent NFT Market

Article - Media, Publications

What Cos. Need To Know Before Entering Nascent NFT Market

Michelle Ann Gitlitz, David Ervin and Carissa Wilson, 31 March 2021

On March 11, the artist known as Beeple sold for $69.3 million a digital collage work, “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” and its associated nonfungible token, or NFT. The auction was conducted by Christie’s International PLC and “Everydays” became the third most expensive work ever sold by a living artist.

A few days later, an image of The New York Times column, “Buy This Column on the Blockchain!” was turned into an NFT and sold for $560,000.

The musician and artist Claire Boucher, known as Grimes, sold nearly $6 million worth of digital artworks as NFTs in under 20 minutes. Continue reading “Article: What Cos. Need To Know Before Entering Nascent NFT Market”

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