Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg urged state lawmakers Wednesday to criminalize unlicensed crypto operations, warning that a $51 billion criminal economy is thriving in regulatory blind spots that let criminals launder gun, drug, and fraud proceeds with impunity.<\/p>\n
Speaking at New York Law School on Wednesday, Bragg laid out crypto enforcement as a second-term priority alongside guns and shoplifting, demanding legislators close loopholes that allow unlicensed operators to evade prosecution despite facilitating massive money laundering operations.<\/p>\n
“We need systemic accountability like on steroids here,” Bragg said. “In fact, actually, I want you to be a little scared. And then to write your assembly person or senator about the fix, the prescription we have.”<\/p>\n
Bragg zeroed in on unlicensed crypto ATMs that charge 20% fees to convert dirty cash into digital assets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They know you’re laundering gun proceeds,” he said. “And they do it without necessarily asking you.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Manhattan prosecutors have cracked cases, including a $5 million unlicensed Bitcoin ATM operation and terrorism financing schemes, Bragg said investigators can’t rely on criminals making mistakes.<\/p>\n
“We shouldn’t need someone to slip up and use a traditional bank,” he said. “There are people far wiser than the one who bragged on Facebook Messenger.”<\/p>\n
Former Mayor Eric Adams Hijacked ‘NYC Token’ Concept, Startup Claims<\/a><\/p>\n Bragg called for mandatory licensing and know-your-customer requirements for all crypto businesses, backed by criminal penalties.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If you are operating a crypto business, if you are transferring, trading, moving, whatever verb you wanna use, virtual currency, you should be licensed,” Bragg said. “It’s that simple.”<\/p>\n The proposal would make New York the 19th state to criminalize unlicensed crypto operations, he said.<\/p>\n During the Q&A session, civil litigator Margo Hoppen raised concerns about recently widowed elderly New Yorkers having fallen victim to pig butchering schemes.<\/p>\n “We spent a lot of time trying to help people get stolen crypto back. It’s very hard,” he said, pointing to Senator Zellnor Myrie\u2019s R.I.P.O.F.F. act as a potential solution that “would give us more tools to help people get stolen crypto back.”<\/p>\n New York Lawmakers Target Prediction Markets as NHL’s Rangers Ink Polymarket Deal<\/a><\/p>\n Just this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts filed a civil forfeiture action on Monday seeking $200,000 in USDT<\/a> stablecoin<\/a> from a Tinder-based pig-butchering scam<\/a> targeting a Massachusetts resident.<\/p>\n “When prosecutors like Alvin Bragg say crypto crime will be a priority, the most important question is whether law enforcement has the tools and expertise to turn that focus into real outcomes,\u201d Ari Redbord, a former Treasury Department official now serving as global head of policy at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, told Decrypt.<\/p>\n