The latest in crypto fraud news: 9th September

Welcome to this Monday’s round-up of the latest news in the worlds of cryptocurrency and foreign exchange fraud.

Old US law could pose new challenges for legal crypto transactions

An old law which was passed decades ago in the US could have detrimental effects on those looking to place private yet legitimate crypto transactions, an article in a respected journal has claimed.

The Bank Secrecy Act, which was passed in 1970 by the country’s Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon, gives the US government the right to insist that financial services providers divulge information when asked to in the event of suspicions that fraud or money laundering might be taking place.

Now, however, it is believed that the law could be used in the name of crypto fraud prevention.

An article in the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Technology Review claims that the law gives the American government the means to regulate cryptocurrencies if it so wished.

The article quotes David Murray, who is a senior leader at the Financial Integrity Network, as saying in his testimony in front of a Senate committee that the government should take steps to use the act to tackle crypto fraud.

“Virtual assets are vulnerable to illicit finance because they offer rapid and irrevocable settlement and the potential for anonymity”, he is quoted as saying.

It is a little-known fact that the Bank Secrecy Act requires banks to send a report to the Treasury every time a transaction of $5,000 or more is made – a transaction size that many Americans are likely to be involved in at one stage or another over the course of their lifetimes, perhaps during a property purchase or a redundancy payment.

Concerns have been raised about the impact that this sort of regulation could have on the crypto sector – or, indeed, whether the anonymous nature of a decentralised ledger system could render it impossible.

Currently, some crypto organisations actually are covered by the law.

These include crypto exchanges and crypto-asset storage systems.

This is because they are defined as financial institutions rather than merely service providers.

Manny Pacquiao announces new cryptocurrency – to press concern

The boxer Manny Pacquiao told crowds at an event in Manila this weekend that he intends to launch his own cryptocurrency called the “Pac”.

The Pac will be maintained by Global Crypto Offering Exchange (GCOX), a company based in Singapore which often works alongside celebrities to deliver branded token services.

In a press release, GCOX said that users could access the coin through an app.

“Fans will now be able to download Acclaim! — a new fan-celebrity edutainment mobile application to connect directly with their favorite celebrities, including “Pacman” himself”, it said.

While there is no suggestion that the Pac is anything other than legitimate, cryptocurrency news outlets revealed their scepticism about it.

ArticleArticles on the launch of Pac cited previous cases of failed celebrity crypto endeavours, such as the CentraCoin incident which led to Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled being fined by the US government.

Chris Lee

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