Cryptocurrencies and digital assets are increasingly garnering interest from institutional investors. This is on top of the already strong support in place for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin from the retail investor. With this rapid growth has come a series of complex operational and regulatory compliance challenges. These challenges have become further exacerbated by the increasing pace of technological advances in areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi) tokenization, blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) essential to the crypto and digital asset markets. This book will be the first book to provide current and practical guidance on the operational and compliance foundations of crypto investing and asset management. The book will include: · Step-by-step analysis of the modern operational mechanics behind cryptocurrency investment operations · Detailed guidance and example documentation on the procedures launching a crypto fund · Explanation of the operational procedures and compliance requirements for crytpo asset managers · Detailed analysis of crypto anti-money laundering compliance, regulations and laws for cryptocurrencies · Up-to-date analysis of recent crypto case studies, frauds and regulatory enforcement actions · Review of the digital asset landscape including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and asset tokenization · Current examples of real-world crypto operations policies and compliance manuals · Analysis of the emerging trends in crypto operations and compliance in areas including blockchain, DeFi, crypto lending, yield farming, crypto mining and dApps Cryptocurrency Compliance and Operations will be an invaluable up-to-date resource for investors, fund managers, and their operations and compliance personnel as well as service providers on the implementation and management of best practice operations.​

Digital or ‘virtual’ currencies pose significant challenges for government, financial and legal institutions because of their non-physical nature and their relative anonymity to physical currency. These attributes make this form of exchange extremely volatile and, at the same time, attractive to criminals. Many countries around the world have, therefore issued warnings against the use of digital currencies and have enacted laws to regulate and in some cases, restrict their use among members under their respective jurisdictions. Digital Currency: An International Legal and Regulatory Compliance Guide serves as a primer for both general and specialized readers, as well as business law and e-commerce teachers and students, to recognize and understand the extensive network of laws and regulations already in place around the world which have a profound impact on the creation, distribution and use of digital currency and blockchain technology. The book is also a compliance guide assisting legal practitioners in the fields of business, law, and technology to develop, implement, manage, and maintain strategies, policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that their activities involving digital currency and blockchain technology comply with a complex set of legal requirements in several jurisdictions. The book addresses both the complex set of existing laws that have a profound impact on digital currencies and blockchain technology, and the emerging new legal requirements directed specifically towards digital currency. Readers will understand the broad implications of laws and regulations on digital currency and blockchain development and its use, and will also be equipped with the knowledge to incorporate these effectively into their professional and personal endeavors. This entails maximizing the value of digital currency and blockchain technology while also minimizing their risk of adverse legal consequences. Additionally, policymakers seeking to enforce current legislations or wishing to draft appropriate new regulations in the digital currency and blockchain economy will also benefit from the information provided in this book.

Discover Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has the finance world buzzing Bitcoin is arguably one of the biggest developments in finance since the advent of fiat currency. With Understanding Bitcoin, expert author Pedro Franco provides finance professionals with a complete technical guide and resource to the cryptography, engineering and economic development of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This comprehensive, yet accessible work fully explores the supporting economic realities and technological advances of Bitcoin, and presents positive and negative arguments from various economic schools regarding its continued viability. This authoritative text provides a step-by-step description of how Bitcoin works, starting with public key cryptography and moving on to explain transaction processing, the blockchain and mining technologies. This vital resource reviews Bitcoin from the broader perspective of digital currencies and explores historical attempts at cryptographic currencies. Bitcoin is, after all, not just a digital currency; it's a modern approach to the secure transfer of value using cryptography. This book is a detailed guide to what it is, how it works, and how it just may jumpstart a change in the way digital value changes hands. Understand how Bitcoin works, and the technology behind it Delve into the economics of Bitcoin, and its impact on the financial industry Discover alt-coins and other available cryptocurrencies Explore the ideas behind Bitcoin 2.0 technologies Learn transaction protocols, micropayment channels, atomic cross-chain trading, and more Bitcoin challenges the basic assumption under which the current financial system rests: that currencies are issued by central governments, and their supply is managed by central banks. To fully understand this revolutionary technology, Understanding Bitcoin is a uniquely complete, reader-friendly guide.

An authoritative introduction to the exciting new technologies of digital money Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies provides a comprehensive introduction to the revolutionary yet often misunderstood new technologies of digital currency. Whether you are a student, software developer, tech entrepreneur, or researcher in computer science, this authoritative and self-contained book tells you everything you need to know about the new global money for the Internet age. How do Bitcoin and its block chain actually work? How secure are your bitcoins? How anonymous are their users? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? These are some of the many questions this book answers. It begins by tracing the history and development of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and then gives the conceptual and practical foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network as well as to integrate ideas from Bitcoin into your own projects. Topics include decentralization, mining, the politics of Bitcoin, altcoins and the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the future of Bitcoin, and more. An essential introduction to the new technologies of digital currency Covers the history and mechanics of Bitcoin and the block chain, security, decentralization, anonymity, politics and regulation, altcoins, and much more Features an accompanying website that includes instructional videos for each chapter, homework problems, programming assignments, and lecture slides Also suitable for use with the authors' Coursera online course Electronic solutions manual (available only to professors)

The success of counterterrorism finance strategies in reducing terrorist access to official currencies has raised concerns that terrorist organizations might increase their use of such digital cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin to support their activities. RAND researchers thus consider the needs of terrorist groups and the advantages and disadvantages of the cryptocurrency technologies available to them.

"Views differ on bitcoin, but few doubt the transformative potential of Blockchain technology. The Truth Machine is the best book so far on what has happened and what may come along. It demands the attention of anyone concerned with our economic future." —Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard, Former Treasury Secretary From Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna, the authors of The Age of Cryptocurrency, comes the definitive work on the Internet’s Next Big Thing: The Blockchain. Big banks have grown bigger and more entrenched. Privacy exists only until the next hack. Credit card fraud is a fact of life. Many of the “legacy systems” once designed to make our lives easier and our economy more efficient are no longer up to the task. Yet there is a way past all this—a new kind of operating system with the potential to revolutionize vast swaths of our economy: the blockchain. In The Truth Machine, Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna demystify the blockchain and explain why it can restore personal control over our data, assets, and identities; grant billions of excluded people access to the global economy; and shift the balance of power to revive society’s faith in itself. They reveal the disruption it promises for industries including finance, tech, legal, and shipping. Casey and Vigna expose the challenge of replacing trusted (and not-so-trusted) institutions on which we’ve relied for centuries with a radical model that bypasses them. The Truth Machine reveals the empowerment possible when self-interested middlemen give way to the transparency of the blockchain, while highlighting the job losses, assertion of special interests, and threat to social cohesion that will accompany this shift. With the same balanced perspective they brought to The Age of Cryptocurrency, Casey and Vigna show why we all must care about the path that blockchain technology takes—moving humanity forward, not backward.

The long-awaited guide for modern hedge fund compliance program development Hedge Fund Compliance + Website provides straightforward, practical guidance toward developing a hedge fund compliance program, drawn from the author's experience training financial regulators, consulting with government entities, and analyzing hedge fund compliance structures across the globe. In-depth explanations of compliance principles are backed by illustrative case studies and examples. Highly in-demand templates of popular hedge fund compliance documentation provide actionable illustrations of key compliance policies. Designed to assist investors, fund managers, service providers, and compliance job seekers directly, this book describes the fundamental building blocks of the hedge fund compliance function. Compliance is one of the fastest growing areas in the hedge fund space. This reference book provides an essential foundation in modern hedge fund compliance, reflecting the recent changes of this dynamic field. Design and run a hedge fund compliance program Access templates of core compliance documentation and checklists Discover how investors can evaluate and monitor compliance programs Interviews with hedge fund compliance practitioners A steady stream of regulatory changes, combined with the enhanced enforcement efforts of regulators, ensure that hedge funds' compliance-related expenditures will continue to grow. While hedge fund compliance legislation continues to evolve globally, little practical guidance exists for those tasked with the boots-on-the-ground aspects of developing an actual compliance program to comply with best practices and regulatory guidance from leading hedge fund regulators including the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Futures Association, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority. Hedge fund professionals and investors need a fundamental framework for establishing and evaluating an effective program, and when compliance is the issue, trial and error carries too much risk. Hedge Fund Compliance + Website provides clear guidance and practical tools to meet today's compliance professional needs.

How to diagnose and monitor key hedge fund operational risks With the various scandals taking place with hedge funds, now more than ever, both financial and operational risks must be examined. Revealing how to effectively detect and evaluate often-overlooked operational risk factors in hedge funds, such as multi-jurisdictional regulatory coordination, organizational nesting, and vaporware, Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence includes real-world examples drawn from the author's experiences dealing with the operational risks of a global platform of over 80 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, private equity, and real estate managers.

Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, Volume 2: ChinaTech, Mobile Security, and Distributed Ledger emphasizes technological developments that introduce the future of finance. Descriptions of recent innovations lay the foundations for explorations of feasible solutions for banks and startups to grow. The combination of studies on blockchain technologies and applications, regional financial inclusion movements, advances in Chinese finance, and security issues delivers a grand perspective on both changing industries and lifestyles. Written for students and practitioners, it helps lead the way to future possibilities. - Explains the practical consequences of both technologies and economics to readers who want to learn about subjects related to their specialties - Encompasses alternative finance, financial inclusion, impact investing, decentralized consensus ledger and applied cryptography - Provides the only advanced methodical summary of these subjects available today

A step-by-step guide to develop a flexible comprehensive operational due diligence program for private equity and real estate funds Addressing the unique aspects and challenges associated with performing operational due diligence review of both private equity and real estate asset classes, this essential guide provides readers with the tools to develop a flexible comprehensive operational due diligence program for private equity and real estate. It includes techniques for analyzing fund legal documents and financial statements, as well as methods for evaluating operational risks concerning valuation methodologies, pricing documentation and illiquidity concerns. Covers topics including fund legal documents and financial statement analysis techniques Includes case studies in operational fraud Companion website includes sample checklists, templates, spreadsheets, and links to laws and regulations referenced in the book Equips investors with the tools to evaluate liquidity, valuation, and documentation Also by Jason Scharfman: Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence: Understanding the Risks Filled with case studies, this book is required reading for private equity and real estate investors, as well as fund managers and service providers, for performing due diligence on the noninvestment risks associated with private equity and real estate funds.