The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET),;Eun Young Choi, has recently revealed the division's commitment to increase its crackdown on crypto exchanges giving room to illicit activities.
Choi said they would first focus on platforms evading anti-money laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules.
- The agency's head of crypto enforcement also stated that the trading platforms avoiding engaging in comprehensive compliance and risk mitigation would be prioritized.
- The DOJ executive underlined that the agency specifically targets crypto exchanges allowing criminal actors to easily profit from their crimes.
- Choi added that crypto crimes have increased significantly in the last four years.
- According to Choi's statements, the NCET will also bring more enforcement actions against investment scams.
- In April, the DOJ announced that it seized around $112M from six investment scams in which scammers build relationships with victims for several months.
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also estimates that $2.5B was stolen from people through crypto-related investment frauds last year.
- The U.S. regulators have already become famous for their strict regulatory approach toward the crypto industry over the last several months.
- Many crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, Bittrex, and Binance, recently came under increased scrutiny by U.S. regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- KYC is a common regulatory process generally implemented by financial services providers, including banks and crypto exchanges, to identify and verify their customers by asking for some key personal information and documents.
- The process aims to improve trust in the industry, help service providers to assess the risks, and combat;money laundering;and terrorism financing.