Crypto Regulations to Tighten as CFTC Will be More Aggressive

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is not planning to ease up on crypto firms and will continue to tighten its leash on the industry as regulation tightens. The regulator also claims that foreign companies accessing American clients are a “privilege,” not a right.

This week, the CFTC stated that its case against former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and the crypto exchange is just the beginning of an aggressive pursuit.

Aggressive Pursuit of Crypto Exchanges

According to reports on Nov. 24, CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero said, “There are no pirate ships in US markets,” before adding: 

“Access to US customers is a privilege, not a right.”

The comments come in the same week that CZ agreed to pay $50 million in fines. Moreover, Binance was hit with a $4.3 billion fine for noncompliance and money laundering offenses.

The CFTC will get a portion of that settlement since Binance allowed US customers to trade unregistered crypto derivatives.

The commissioner added that the agency plans to continue its “aggressive pursuit of crypto exchanges” that violate trade laws.

Goldsmith also said that there would be no tolerance for using VPNs to mask internet addresses. Circumventing US KYC (know-your-customer) rules would also not be tolerated as crypto regulations tighten.

Learn more: Binance Review 2023: Is It the Right Crypto Exchange for You?

CFTC Commissioner Caroline D. Pham said in a separate statement that the agency’s reach has no borders. “It should be crystal clear that the CFTC will not stop in its pursuit of non-U.S. entities,” she said. 

According to the US Treasury Department, Binance was slapped with a massive fine because it enabled transactions from terrorist organizations such as Hamas, the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, and cyber criminals.

Sister agency the Securities and Exchange Commission has also vowed to ramp up its war on crypto. Just this week, the regulator dished out another lawsuit to a crypto exchange, Kraken. 

It is also involved in a number of ongoing court battles with Ripple, Coinbase, and Binance. 

Market Recovery Continues

Markets have largely recovered from this week’s turbulent news stream. Total capitalization dipped marginally mid-week but is back to previous levels again.

Markets are flat on the day this Friday morning in Asia with total capitalization remaining at $1.47 trillion. 

Moreover, many digital assets are trading at the highest levels they have been since May 2022. 

All this is against a backdrop of increasing regulatory pressure from Uncle Sam, which just goes to show that crypto is bigger than America.

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