Singapore Sends Securities Compliance Warning To Eight Cryptocurrency Exchanges; U.S. Justice Department Is Investigating Bitcoin Price Manipulation; $1.2 Billion In Cryptocurrency Stolen Since 2017
According to Coin Telegraph, Singapore’s central bank issued a warning to eight cryptocurrency exchanges over lack of securities compliance and even ordered an ICO to stop issuing tokens.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) stated in a press release that exchanges and ICOs “are responsible for ensuring that they comply with all relevant laws.”
MAS’ assistant managing director of capital markets Lee Boon Ngiap stated:
“The number of digital token exchanges and digital token offerings in Singapore has been increasing... We do not see a need to restrict them if they are bona fide businesses. But if any digital token exchange, issuer or intermediary breaches our securities laws, MAS will take firm action.”
The press release did not specify the exchanges and ICO that received warnings.
More specifically, the probe is centered around spoofing. Spoofing is an illegal practice in which an investor floods the market with fake orders in an effort to distort the price of an asset. The investigation is being done in collaboration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC is the financial regulator that oversees bitcoin derivatives.
According to Reuters, criminals have stolen about $1.2 billion in cryptocurrencies since the beginning of 2017. This amount was estimated from the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
These estimates were included as part of the group’s research on cryptocurrency and included reported and unreported thefts.
Dave Jevans, CEO of cryptocurrency security firm CipherTrace, stated:
“One problem that we’re seeing in addition to the criminal activity like drug trafficking and money laundering using cryptocurrencies is the theft of these tokens by bad guys”
Jevans estimates that only about 20 percent or less of the $1.2 billion stolen has been recovered.
