Citation[]
FinCEN, Application of FinCEN's Regulations to Virtual Currency Mining Operations (FIN-2014-R001) (Jan. 30, 2014) (full-text).
Overview[]
To the extent that a user mines Bitcoin and uses the Bitcoin solely for the user's own purposes and not for the benefit of another, the user is not a Money services business (MSB) under FinCEN's regulations, because these activities involve neither "acceptance" nor "transmission" of the convertible virtual currency and are not the transmission of funds within the meaning of the Rule. This is the case whether the user mining and using the Bitcoin is an individual or a corporation, and whether the user is purchasing goods or services for the user's own use, paying debts previously incurred in the ordinary course of business, or (in the case of a corporate user) making distributions to shareholders. Activities that, in and of themselves, do not constitute accepting and transmitting currency, funds or the value of funds, are activities that do not fit within the definition of "money transmission services" and therefore are not subject to FinCEN's registration, reporting, and recordkeeping regulations for MSBs.