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Form Energy Building Battery Plant in West Virginia

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. The Form Energy Battery Plant Project Construction is scheduled to begin in 2023 on Massachusetts-based Form Energy’s new iron-air battery plant in Weirton, West Virginia, with battery production slated to begin in 2024. Weirton, a former steel town, was chosen as the plant’s location largely due to the financial incentive package offered by the state of West Virginia.  The $75 million allocated by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority to purchase the land, the site of a former steel plant, gave the state a major advantage against 15 other states competing for the project and 750 promised new manufacturing jobs. An additional $215 million in state and federal funds brings the total financial incentive package to $290 million. Advantages of Iron-air Batteries Form Energy describes iron-air batteries as longer-lasting, able to store electricity for up to 100 hours. Iron-air batteries also are reported as cheaper and more sustainably scalable than lithium-ion batteries. These qualities are essential to making renewable...

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Bitcoin Money Transmitter vs. Money Transmitter: What’s the Difference?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your surety bond needs. What Is a Money Transmitter? The U.S. government has identified the following as money services businesses: Currency dealer or exchanger Check casher Issuer of traveler’s checks, money orders, or stored value Seller or redeemer of traveler’s checks, money orders, or stored value Money transmitter For every entity on this list other than money transmitters, there is an activity threshold of $1,000 per day in one or more transactions to be considered a money services business. There is no activity threshold for money transmitters. Anyone engaging as a business in transferring funds in any amount as an intermediary between two parties is a money transmitter. Money transmitters must be registered with the Department of Treasury and licensed in every state in which they operate. The question is whether transferring Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is considered to be transmitting “money” and therefore subject to regulation as a money transmitter. How Is Cryptocurrency Money Transmission Defined? Initially, cryptocurrency existed in a gray...

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Does Your Business Need a Cryptocurrency License?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your surety bond needs. What Is Cryptocurrency? A cryptocurrency is an encrypted data string that denotes a unit of currency. It is monitored and organized by a peer-to-peer network called a blockchain, which also serves as a secure ledger of transactions (e.g., buying, selling, and transferring). There are a number of different cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin is the most widely traded. How Is Cryptocurrency Regulated? In the United States, businesses that want to trade in cryptocurrency must obtain a crypto license from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) before they can operate a cryptocurrency exchange or trading platform. Other countries have their own regulatory requirements for businesses trading in cryptocurrency. Certain states also have state-level regulations governing trading in cryptocurrencies, which require businesses to obtain a state license as a condition for operating a cryptocurrency exchange or trading platform. New York’s regulatory framework is called BitLicense. Some states exempt individuals and small cryptocurrency exchanges from crypto licensing. And some states have not yet...

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U.S. Money Transmitter and Cryptocurrency Transmitter Laws

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your surety bond needs. Federal Registration of Money Transmitters In the United States, money transmission is heavily regulated at the federal level because of the risk of fraud and other criminal activity. The federal regulations governing money transmission apply to all money transmitters, whether actual or virtual funds being exchanged. All money transmitters must register with the U.S. Department of Treasury using the BSA E-Filing System. Specifically, they must file an electronic Registration of Money Service Business (RMSB) using FinCEN Form 107. A copy of the filed registration form must be retained in a U.S. location for five years, with annual updates to the estimate of business volume, ownership information, and a list of the business’s agents. Federal law also requires that money transmitters obtain any necessary state licenses. State Licensing of Money Transmitters Under federal law, money transmitters must be licensed in every state where they operate. Only one state, Montana, does not license money transmitters at all. However, some states with...

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Cryptocurrency Regulations by State

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your surety bond needs. Widely Varying Cryptocurrency Laws The United States is a patchwork quilt regarding state-level regulation of the cryptocurrency business. Some states have clearly stated that businesses operating cryptocurrency exchanges must be licensed as money services businesses (MSBs) or money transmitters. Some states are less definitive on the subject, but it is probable that cryptocurrency businesses operating in them will need to be licensed. Still, other states are unlikely to require licensing of a given cryptocurrency business. And Montana does not require money transmitters to be licensed at all, regardless of the type of currency transmitted, real or virtual. Bear in mind that state laws are subject to change over time. It’s reasonable to expect that states that have yet to clarify their position on cryptocurrency may do so in the months and years to come, resulting in new or amended regulations in those states. States Requiring Licensing of Crypto Transmitters The following states explicitly define businesses that transmit cryptocurrency as...

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Construction for Healthcare, Education, Lab, and More to Grow in 2023

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. Growing Institutional Building Sectors The two institutional sectors of the construction industry experiencing the greatest growth in 2023 (with expectations for continued growth in 2024) are education and healthcare. Healthcare Construction in 2023 Healthcare construction projects typically involve building inpatient hospitals, structures housing medical offices to provide outpatient services, nursing homes, or standalone clinics. Project starts are estimated to total more than $40 billion in 2023. The greatest growth is expected in the construction of medical buildings where outpatient services are provided. The uptick in the construction of medical office buildings is driven by a growing demand for conveniently located outpatient services that don’t require admission to a hospital. Most hospitals offer outpatient services, but patients prefer to avoid the usual registration process or navigating a large hospital facility. Revenues from outpatient services grew by 30% between 2020 and 2022, while inpatient revenues increased by only 8.5% during that period. The volume of outpatient office visits is expected to...

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Challenges for IIJA in 2023

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. Challenges at the Federal Level Many have been questioning why, in 2023, they have not seen much construction activity due to the funding authorized by the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021. It goes without saying that getting any massive new endeavor off the ground is likely to involve some challenges, some of them perhaps unexpected or underestimated. The rollout of IIJA is no exception. Consider the implementation and oversight challenges facing the U.S. Department of Transportation in administering the $660 billion in IIJA funding for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. It has taken some time for the Department to address such challenges as: Identifying and mitigating risks, such as the increased risk of disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) fraud, which can steal opportunities for legitimate DBEs to participate in IIJA-funded projects Expanding, training, and retaining its own workforce to achieve the capacity to meet IIJA demands Establishing IIJA application and award processes and DOT...

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New Transportation Projects Planned for 2023

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. IIJA Transportation Project Grants With the infusion of the $1.2 trillion authorized for transportation and infrastructure spending under the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act (IIJA) signed into law in November 2021, there will be many new transportation projects in 2023 and over the next few years. Although IIJA became law in 2021, most of 2022 was devoted to getting the administrative framework up and running. This included establishing offices and programs within the federal Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, and the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, administrative and operational guidelines were established for states, territories, and tribal entities to follow. And at the state, territorial, and tribal level, authorities were setting up their own systems for proposing projects for IIJA funding and soliciting bids from construction companies. Consequently, it wasn’t until mid-2022 that transportation project grants began to be awarded. Funding Opportunities for 2023 The federal government’s schedule of...

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IIJA Announces the First Large Bridge Grant in Illinois

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. What Are Large Bridge Project Grants? The Federal Highway Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, operates the Bridge Investment Program established by the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act (IIJA), passed in 2021. Nearly $40 billion is to be distributed over a five-year period to repair or replace thousands of bridges throughout the United States. The Bridge Investment Program allocates IIJA Large Bridge Project grants through competitive bidding on projects valued at more than $100 million. The minimum grant amount is $50 million, with maximum grant amounts of up to 50% of the total eligible project costs. Large Bridge Project grants are intended to address safety concerns and ensure the movement of freight and people. Chicago’s Large Bridge Project Grant In the first round of Large Bridge Project grants, Chicago has been awarded $144 million in IIJA funds to rehabilitate four important bridges over the Calumet River. In evaluating projects, preference was given to those far along in...

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