A U.S. House oversight subcommittee is calling for consumer protections against cryptocurrency fraud.
Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, head of the Economic and Consumer Policy subcommittee, has asked the U.S. Treasury Department, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Federal Trade Commission for information on the steps being taken to stop fraud linked to cryptocurrencies.
The inquiry comes amid an escalating number of frauds involving digital assets and tokens, and as the cryptocurrency market continues to fall from the heights it reached a year ago.
Five of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges were also sent inquiry letters by the House subcommittee, requesting documents on company policies regarding the removal of fake accounts and measures aimed at protecting consumers from online scammers.
A report on the impacts of cryptocurrencies on U.S. financial markets is expected to be released in the coming weeks. This past March, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order calling for several agencies to look at ways to regulate cryptocurrencies and gave them 180 days to comply.
On Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned that criminals are more frequently exploiting vulnerabilities on decentralized finance platforms to steal cryptocurrencies and cash held in crypto-related accounts.
Several efforts to regulate cryptocurrencies are underway in the U.S. capital. In June, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis proposed the “Responsible Financial Innovation Act.”
The Act would create legal definitions of digital assets; require the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to adopt guidance on merchant acceptance of digital assets and charitable contributions; and make a distinction between digital assets that are commodities and those that are securities.
