New legislation proposed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday would make it a crime for New York businesses to deal in cryptocurrency without a license.
The CRYPTO Act, which Bragg announced he was co-sponsoring with State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, proposes that business owners who handle crypto without a virtual currency license be subject to criminal prosecution and to felonies carrying up to 15 years in prison if they process more than $1 million in crypto transactions.
“The shadow financial system created by the explosion of cryptocurrency has created an ideal vehicle for money laundering and other crimes in New York State. Crypto is the go-to means for bad actors to move and hide the proceeds of crime,” Bragg said in a statement.
“It is long past time for businesses that operate without a virtual currency license and flout due-diligence requirements to face criminal penalties.”
The DA has indicated that enforcing the law around crypto crime will be a hallmark priority in his second term. At a public safety talk on Wednesday at New York Law School, he said that hard-to-trace cryptocurrency transactions facilitate criminality and that “getting our arms around this is key for systemic accountability.”
Currently, New York businesses that exchange, trade or transmit crypto can face federal criminal charges for operating without a license, yet face only civil penalties under state law.
“New York is the financial capital of the world and we need to take our responsibilities to the marketplace seriously,” Myrie said in a statement.
“My bill would bring New York in line with the 18 other states that have explicitly made unlicensed crypto transactions a crime and help protect consumers and the general public from potential frauds, scams and other financial crimes.”
With Rocco Parascandola