NOTE: Transcript imperfect, see https://www.elliptic.co/webinars-events/financial-regulator-crypto-coffee-webinar-series-with-ofac for original video recording
Host: [00:00:00] [...]
Director Gacki: Thank you, David. And let me just say, I'm just so pleased to be here, to be able to talk about these topics with you, and, with your audience. So I think where [00:00:30] it started for OFAC really goes back to 2018. Now it had been something we had been monitoring, obviously prior to that, but what happened in 2018 was, the Maduro government's announcement that it would be creating a form of digital currency, the Petro, that would potentially allow it to circumvent sanctions. And I think it was, in March of 2018, [00:01:00] in response to that, the president issued an executive order prohibiting transactions with respect to the Petro that authority was given to OFAC in order to implement. And also at about that time OFAC first issued...
1) BACKGROUND
This is a transcription of an-on-the-record interview of OFAC Director Andrea Gacki, conducted by David Carlisle, Head of Crypto Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Elliptic. A video recording of the interview is freely available at https://www.elliptic.co/webinars-events/financial-regulator-crypto-coffee-webinar-series-with-ofac.
In the interview, Director Gacki, speaking in her capacity as OFAC Director, makes several notable statements concerning the relationship between cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency-related services and OFAC-administered sanctions laws. Much of the substance of the interview consists of commentary on topics that, as of the date on which the interview was conducted, had not been the subject of any on-the-record statements attributable to OFAC. Note that the interview was conducted two months prior to OFAC’s first ever cryptocurrency-related enforcement action (Civil Enforcement Information - BitGo, Inc.)
Since the time of the...