CFTC commissioner says fraud is a hallmark of Crypto

Christy Goldsmith Romero indirectly explained that the recent US crackdown was a part of the increasing fraudster nature of cryptocurrencies.

Q1 2023 was not a good year for the crypto companies. After the bankruptcy of several crypto companies in late 2022, the US regulatory bodies took strict enforcement action against top crypto companies. Strangely America’s top regulated crypto exchange Coinbase also faced regulatory pressure in a recent US crypto crackdown.

On 25 April 2023, Reuters reported that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero said that cryptocurrencies are very attractive among people because of the anonymous nature of crypto networks.

According to CFTC official, the anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies helps bad actors to process illicit financial activities, which is a very big threat to national security. 

Christy Goldsmith believed that fraudsters are rapidly moving toward crypto use and at this stage, regulators should take action.

“Fraud is a hallmark of digital asset markets, the human toll of which may be overlooked. Governments and particularly the industry need to address that which makes crypto so attractive to illicit finance, and that is the allure of anonymity,” a CFTC official said.

The report also noted that US OFAC banned the popular Ethereum mixing platform Tornado Cash, to keep money laundering away from the crypto sector. 

Further CFTC commissioner suggested all crypto companies remain away from those crypto innovations, which enhances anonymity for crypto users, but maintains financial privacy. 

CFTC vs Binance 

This month, the CFTC agency sued Binance crypto exchange, despite Binance not providing crypto services in the US jurisdiction.

The CFTC agency claimed that Binance was providing services to US citizens, without registration with the corresponding regulatory body. 

Because of the increasing regulatory pressure in the US, both Binance & BinanceUS are failing to maintain a healthy relationship with banking service providers.

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