When the Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued advisory FIN-2019-A003 in May 2019, it set out seven categories of cryptoasset-specific information that it considers particularly useful in crypto Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs).
Seven years on, financial institutions expanding into cryptoassets are still working out how to surface that information at the speed and consistency their SAR programs require.
In principle, cryptoassets should be easier to monitor than fiat. The blockchain holds a permanent, public record of every transaction. The harder part is knowing what to look for and converting the raw data into a crypto SAR filing that meets regulatory expectations and is useful to law enforcement.
