Sat 31 December 2022 ▪ 19.00 ▪
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2022 will remain a particularly complicated year for the crypto industry. Between the price of Bitcoin, which has seen a huge drop, the bankruptcy of FTX and crypto hacks, investors have seen all the colors. While we thought we were getting out of the inn, another report from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), California’s crypto regulator, throws us back into a negative spiral. In fact, the organization has just compiled a list of 17 crypto brokers suspected of fraud. This warning is shocking, especially when you know that such an alert had not occurred since July. At this time, it was on 26 crypto platforms that the suspicion of fraud weighed heavily.
DFPI lists 17 malicious crypto brokers
We have to be very careful at the end of the year, at least that is the message that DFPI is trying to convey. The organization comes from publish a rather startling list of 17 suspected “rogue” crypto brokers. It therefore attracts the attention of investors to avoid reliving the trauma of the FTX crypto exchange. Over the course of two days, the DFPI in turn cited the platforms suspected of fraud. In the list in question we find quite well-known names such as Tony Alin Trading Company, Tahoe Digital Exchange, Unison FX, ZC Exchange And the list is not exhaustive.
What is more surprising is the presence of two copycat sites. The platforms in question are allegedly posing as two top brokers in the crypto industry. These are precisely: eth Wintermute.net and UniSwap LLC. According to our source, the 17 crypto platforms “appears to be involved in defrauding California investors”.
As we said, it is rare to see DFPI in the space of a few days make so many warnings. This is proof that crypto fraud indicators are increasing in the last days of the year. The Californian organization had accustomed us to make rather summary publications. Most often, these are investigations of specific companies or reports on incidents.
You have to go way back in June to see a similar warning. The DFPI then presented a list of 26 fake crypto platforms. These warnings followed complaints from investors who had suffered losses of between $2,000 and $1.2 billion. The organization insists on the term fraud because the touts pretend to be friends or relatives in order to win the trust of the victims. The ultimate goal is to trick investors into placing money on duplicate sites, believing that they are investing in real sites.
Conclusion
Crypto scams are an integral part of the industry. The recent release of the 17 questionable platforms by DFPI is a tangible example of this. The California agency is asking consumers to exercise caution because once the scam is complete, it becomes virtually irreversible.
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PhD student in financial law and experienced SEO web editor, Cédrick Aimé is passionate about cryptocurrencies, trading etc. Naturally, thanks to his articles, he participates in the daily blockchain revolution for a better democratization of DeFi.