The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it wants to host a workshop that will talk about cryptocurrency fraud and scams in June, 2018. The name of the workshop will be “Decrypting Cryptocurrency Scams”.
According to a press release by the agency, the workshop is going to feature stakeholders coming from consumer advocacy groups, private-sector businesses and law enforcement. There was no announcement made about the actual individuals and businesses that will participate but we do know that its official goal will be:
To explore how scammers are exploiting public interest in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and litecoin and to discuss way to empower and protect consumers.
“Decrypting Cryptocurrency Scams” will be held on June 25 in Chicago, hosted by DePaul University. Entry for the public will be free and starting hour is 1 PM. At the same time, the event is going to be broadcasted live on the FTC website so anyone can see it from across the country.
During the past few months we saw the FTC becoming more and more focused on cryptocurrency scams and fraud. As an example, last month we saw FTC lawyers obtaining a restraining order against 4 investment organizers in Florida because the agency showed that they were promoting scams that were cryptocurrency-related. In that case it was mentioned by FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection acting director, Tom Pahl:
This case shows that scammers always find new ways to market old schemes, which is why the FTC will remain vigilant regardless of the platform – or currency used.
Having the FTC involved in anything related to cryptocurrencies is in itself a sign that people are getting more and more interested in the industry. We see a huge governmental entity that is now actively involved in protecting consumers from scams and fraud, which do exist in the cryptocurrency industry. All this proves that federal entities are interested in doing something about what is happening and actually get more and more involved into regulating everything into a useful format that could benefit everyone in the future.
Fighting fraud in the cryptocurrency market is something every active player needs to be interested in since this increases legitimacy and draws more interested investors.