The Manhattan district attorney is calling on state lawmakers to pass the CRYPTO Act, which would criminalize businesses exchanging, transmitting or trading cryptocurrency without a virtual currency license.
What You Need To Know
There’s a new effort by prosecutors and lawmakers to crack down on cryptocurrency-related scams in New York state
The Crypto Act would criminalize unlicensed cryptocurrency businesses
Officials say unlicensed crypto businesses have increasingly been used to launder money
“If you’re moving a million dollars of crypto, it would be a C felony, five to 15 year’s imprisonment,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg explained.
On Thursday morning, Bragg hosted a briefing with his office’s Crypto Crime Bureau and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie.
Myrie introduced the Crypto Act in the state Senate, saying more needs to be done to protect New Yorkers from cryptocurrency-related fraud.
“The scams that are happening almost on a daily basis are happening to everyday New Yorkers,” Myrie said.
Local prosecutors are racing to keep up with the sophisticated new ways in which criminals are using technology and cryptocurrency.
Investigators have found anonymously owned crypto ATM machines operating in local stores that have been used to launder money and pull off investment and romance scams.
Bragg explained the passage of the Crypto Act would help crack down on unlicensed crypto ATMs.