Over the last half decade, as the value of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum has exploded, the associated coins and tokens have become not only means of payment, but also speculative investments traded between investors. This activity has generated increased interest from federal agencies, which seek to protect investors from fraud and the public from money laundering by targeting coin dealers and developers.
More recently, the federal government is targeting centralized and decentralized exchanges where cryptocurrencies are traded. As ransomware attacks, like the one that shut down the Colonial Pipeline, cause victims to acquire more and more cryptocurrencies to pay a ransom, federal prosecutors and regulators have begun to scrutinize this ecosystem. In particular, the Biden Administration has increasingly focused on cryptocurrency exchanges by intensifying its monitoring and enforcement across various agencies. This article will review some recent developments in these regulatory and procedural agencies.
