U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi sent letters to a number of federal agencies and cryptocurrency exchanges requesting data on anti-fraud efforts.
“The lack of a central authority to detect suspicious activity in many cases, the irreversibility of transactions, and the limited understanding of the underlying technology by many consumers and investors make cryptocurrency a preferred method of transacting for illicit actors,” the letter states.
Among the addressees are the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, CFTC and FTC, as well as exchanges Binance.US, Coinbase, FTX, Kraken and KuCoin. They are to report on actions taken to protect investors.
In particular, Binance’s U.S. head Brian Shroder is required to provide by September 12 documents relating to the company’s policy on digital assets and mechanisms for identifying potential scam projects.
“Given the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment and investment, I am concerned about the rapid growth of fraud and misuse by users,” the congressman explained.
He argues that authorities are not rushing to stamp out unscrupulous practices, and that existing law does not fully cover digital assets.
Krishnamoorthi chairs the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy Oversight. In February 2021, he, together with colleague Jackie Speier, asked Tron founder Justin Sun for explanations regarding content moderation on the streaming platform DLive after the unrest in Washington.
In July 2022, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown asked Alphabet and Apple for information on methods to prevent cryptocurrency fraud in apps hosted in their stores.
According to Immunefi, in the second quarter amounted to more than $670 million.
In August, Elliptic analysts calculated that over the 12 months from July 2021, attackers stole NFTs worth more than $100 million.
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