Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law

Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law Law firm advising on crypto, payments for processors, MSBs, virtual currency businesses, AI, AR, met Adam N. Atlas, Esq. B.A. Hon., B.C.L., LL. B.

heads a law firm advising on legal aspects of payments businesses, Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law, that he founded in 2003. Atlas advises principally on matters of crypto, AI, AR, metaverse, electronic transactions and merchant transaction acquiring law, for US businesses for which he advises on approximately $100,000,000 in annual residual income per year. Atlas acts for over 400 US payments compani

es. In addition to advising on credit card acquiring relationships, he also assists in structuring and drafting commercial agreements for e-wallets, mobile-payments platforms, MSB licensing, AML policies, non-bank international payment networks, gift card, stored value, credit card issuing, e-commerce, ATM and RFID solutions. Atlas provides regulatory advice on issues relating to payments including KYC best practices, AML policies, MSB licensing. Most of Atlas’ clients are electronic transaction businesses located in the United States, including payment processors, banks and independent sales organizations. Atlas also advises on anti-trust and competition law matters in payments and electronic transactions markets. Atlas holds a Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Common Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with Honors, all from McGill University. He also studied law at the National University of Singapore. He has been a member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec (Canada) and the Bar of the State of New York (USA) since 1998. Atlas is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the ABA Section of Science and Technology, the ABA E-Privacy Law Committee, the New York Bar Association and various community philanthropic organizations. He is the Legal Colunnist of The Green Sheet, the leading U.S. electronic transactions periodical, and Payments Business, the leading Canadian payments periodical. He also publishes a blog on MSB licensing. More information is available at www.adamatlas.com or by e-mailing [email protected].

03/08/2023

Please be mindful of spam / scam accounts! Our firm does NOT promote or endorse any crypto projects. - Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law - March 8, 2023

03/07/2023

Whether you are a Canadian fintech planning entry into the U.S. market or are currently in market, there are a myriad of issues that you need to know. From the process of U.S. entry, to talking about personnel, to repatriation of funds and many more issues, Adam Atlas, Attorneys at Law, have seen an...

and what?!? The final frontier.
10/26/2022

and what?!? The final frontier.

Landed in . Is ready for the law motherload?
07/28/2022

Landed in . Is ready for the law motherload?

Not sure how startups are causing client funds to be transferred without state money transmitter licenses? He's a samp...
11/22/2021

Not sure how startups are causing client funds to be transferred without state money transmitter licenses? He's a sample of models reverse engineered.

Market Survey Banks Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law US neobank market survey. Bank / Trust / MSB →,Evolve Bank and Trust,Prime Trust,Lending C...

04/10/2019

1. Agent-of-the-payee up for comment in California: On February 8, 2019, the California Department of Business Oversight published an invitation for comments on possible amendments to the California Financial Code / Money Transmission Act concerning the agent-of-the-payee exemption. The exemption allows agents of the payee to be exempt from money transmitter status if they meet certain specific criteria, including contracting with the payee and accept funds for goods or services sold by the payee and received by the payor. The good news is that the exemption itself is not on the chopping block. Instead, DBO is wondering whether key defined terms should be narrowed or more precisely defined. Specifically, “goods or services” and “receive”. The invitation distinguishes between the types of goods sold at online marketplaces like Amazon and Airbnb (see agent language for each) and other goods sold at (perhaps less popular) marketplaces that handle housing, real estate, insurance etc… Any attempt to distinguish between one kind of payee, giving some the right to the exemption and others not, will create a flurry of requests for guidance and, perhaps, niche processors that try to walk a line between permitted processing and processing that needs a license. The deadline for comments is April 9, 2019.

Agent-of-the-payee is expressly available in only a handful of states, tolerated in many other states and downright confusing the the remainder of states that take a case by case approach. At least under the BSA, the availability of the exemption is fairly clear thanks to guidance produced as a result of an enquiry by our firm.

2. Florida Bitcoin Sellers Need MSB Licenses: In the long-observed Espinoza case, on January 30, 2019, the Florida Court of Appeals has ruled that simply selling Bitcoin in Florida was equivalent to selling payment instruments and therefore requires MSB licensure under Florida law. The court held that, unlike the BSA, the Florida statute does not require transmission to a third party for MSB activity to occur. The case yields the awkward outcome that Espinoza was not an MSB under the BSA but was one under the Florida statute. This ruling contradicts a number of guidance letters from the Florida DFS holding that merely selling Bitcoin was not MSB activity, including the cases of Grapefruit and Cryptobase.

3. All Bitcoin Sellers Must Register with FinCEN as MSBs: In direct contradiction of the Espinoza case, the February 1, 2019 case of US v. Sterkiwheld that a mere seller of Bitcoin was an MSB under the BSA. Not only does this contradict the Espinoza case but it also puts in jeopardy FinCEN’s guidance exempting investors, who buy and sell for their own account.

4. Quadrega.ca Security Policy Case Study. The now defunct virtual currency exchange, Quadega.ca, fell apart because its CEO passed away in India with private keys controlling $250 million of crypto. This is a case study in why payments companies (not just crypto exchanges) need security policies and disaster recovery policies. It goes without saying, that no single person should have the unique keys to substantial reserves of client assets.

Adam Atlas Attorney at Law is licensed in New York and Quebec. This email is ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. Nothing in this e-mail should be construed as a legal opinion or commentary on laws other than in the two jurisdictions where the author is admitted.

07/31/2013

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Adam N. Atlas, Esq. B.A. Hon., B.C.L., LL. B. heads a law firm advising on legal aspects of payments businesses, Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law, that he founded in 2003. Atlas advises principally on matters of electronic transactions and merchant transaction acquiring law, for US businesses for which he advises on approximately $100,000,000 in annual residual income per year. Atlas acts for over 400 US payments companies. In addition to advising on credit card acquiring relationships, he also assists in structuring and drafting commercial agreements for e-wallets, mobile-payments platforms, MSB licensing, AML policies, non-bank international payment networks, gift card, stored value, credit card issuing, e-commerce, ATM and RFID solutions. Atlas provides regulatory advice on issues relating to payments including KYC best practices, AML policies, MSB licensing. Most of Atlas’ clients are electronic transaction businesses located in the United States, including payment processors, banks and independent sales organizations. Atlas also advises on anti-trust and competition law matters in payments and electronic transactions markets. Atlas holds a Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Common Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with Honors, all from McGill University. He also studied law at the National University of Singapore. He has been a member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec (Canada) and the Bar of the State of New York (USA) since 1998. Atlas is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the ABA Section of Science and Technology, the ABA E-Privacy Law Committee, the New York Bar Association and various community philanthropic organizations. He is the Legal Colunnist of The Green Sheet, the leading U.S. electronic transactions periodical, and Payments Business, the leading Canadian payments periodical. He also publishes a blog on MSB licensing. More information is available at www.adamatlas.com or by e-mailing [email protected].