Breaking: US DOJ To Intensify Crackdown Against Crypto Exchange, DeFi, Mixers

US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) national cryptocurrency enforcement team (NCET) to intensify crackdown against bad actors in the crypto market, declared FT on May 15.

Eun Young Choi, who was appointed director of the cryptocurrency enforcement team, said DoJ is targeting crypto exchanges, crypto mixers, and DeFi platforms that commit crimes or allow them to happen, such as enabling money laundering.

US DOJ Promises Crackdown on Crypto Bad Actors

Eun Young Choi, Director of DOJ’s NCET, revealed that the US DOJ is targeting crypto exchanges, companies, and mixers that commit crimes impacting the crypto market, including allowing money laundering.

She promises to crackdown against bad actors in the crypto market as the scale of crypto crimes rises significantly in the past few years.

“But on top of that, they’re allowing for all the other criminal actors to easily profit from their crimes and cash out in ways that are obviously problematic to us. And so we hope that by focusing on those types of platforms, we’re going to have a multiplier effect.”

The DOJ wants to send a deterrent message to crypto entities that evade anti-money laundering or client identification rules and fails to build solid compliance, cybersecurity, and risk mitigation procedures. Recently, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDS) intensified its crackdown against crypto firms failing to meet these procedures.

The DOJ will also target thefts and hacks in DeFi space, especially chain bridges. The number of attacks in DeFi has been growing in the last few years, with investor losses mounting in billions of US dollars.

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Crypto Firms Exit US Amid Rising Regulatory Crackdown

The DOJ crypto enforcement unit under the Biden Administration has emerged as one of the government bodies having the toughest stance on crypto globally.

The regulators such as the US SEC heightened scrutiny against crypto exchanges after the FTX crisis. Several exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase were targeted. The US CFTC charged Binance and its CEO “CZ” for violating commodities laws and failing to comply with rules.

CoinGape Media recently reported that the SEC is almost close to taking enforcement action against Binance or its US arm.

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