[9] The majority of the staff are permanent FinCEN personnel, with about 20 long-term detailees assigned from 13 different regulatory and law enforcement agencies.

[10] The 2001 USA PATRIOT Act required the Secretary of the Treasury to create a secure network for the transmission of information to enforce the relevant regulations.

The partnership between the financial community and law enforcement allows disparate bits of information to be identified, centralized, and rapidly evaluated.

[15] In 2003, FinCEN disseminated information on "informal value transfer systems" (IVTS), including hawala, a network of people receiving money for the purpose of making the funds payable to a third party in another geographic location, generally taking place outside of the conventional banking system through non-bank financial institutions or other business entities whose primary business activity may not be the transmission of money.

"[21] At a November 2013 Senate hearing, Calvery stated, "It is in the best interest of virtual currency providers to comply with these regulations for a number of reasons.

[22] In 2021, amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act and the federal AML/CTF framework officially incorporated existing FinCEN guidelines on digital assets.

This responsibility was established under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which mandates that certain business entities must disclose information about their beneficial owners to FinCEN.

CTA aims to enhance transparency and combat financial crimes by preventing the use of anonymous shell companies for illicit purposes.

This information includes details such as the names, addresses, dates of birth, and identification numbers of individuals who ultimately own or control companies.

By centralizing this data, FinCEN supports law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute financial crimes, ensuring greater accountability and integrity within the corporate sector.

Regulators need to promote greater consistency, coordination and information-sharing, reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, and find concerns across industries.

[33] It has also been alleged that FinCEN's regulations against structuring are enforced unfairly and arbitrarily; for example, it was reported in 2012 that small businesses selling at farmers' markets have been targeted, while politically connected people like Eliot Spitzer were not prosecuted.