key takeaways
- The New York Attorney’s Office has invited crypto investors affected by recent events to file a complaint.
- The office highlighted the recent account suspensions at various cryptocurrency companies as one of the reasons for filing the report.
- Today’s notice acknowledges recent events, including the devaluation of Terra and the decision by Celsius to suspend withdrawals.
Share this article
The New York Attorney General’s Office has invited cryptocurrency investors to report misconduct to the department.
NYAG solicits wrong investors
New York is seeking complaints from crypto investors.
A new investor alert from the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking information from customers who have been denied access to their accounts and who are otherwise “deceived about their cryptocurrency investments.” Customers can lodge a complaint through the office’s anonymous whistleblower portal or through the Investor Protection Bureau.
Today’s notice acknowledges that, to the detriment of investors, a number of cryptocurrency companies have “withheld customer withdrawals, announced massive layoffs, or filed for bankruptcy during the recent downturn of the crypto market.” “.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the ongoing issues in the crypto market “concerning”, noting that investors have “lost their hard-earned money” despite the promised gains.
The office press release specifically mentioned the collapse of the TeraUSD stablecoin. It also notes that Anchor, Celsius, Voyager, and StableGain all have suspended user withdrawals.
It did not explicitly mention other companies that have suspended withdrawals, such as Coinflex, Zipmex and Wold. However, Investor Alert is omnipresent and invites “any New Yorker who believes they are a victim” to contact the office.
New York has historically adopted a strict policy on cryptocurrencies. The New York Attorney General’s office previously took action against crypto companies such as Bitfinex and Coinseed. It has also unsuccessfully targeted Nexo and Celsius in the past.
Meanwhile, the New York Department of Financial Services maintains its exclusive “BitLicense”. Although the current numbers are unclear, licensing is highly selective: in 2020, only 25 companies were licensed and are allowed to operate.
In June, the New York State Senate signed a moratorium on crypto mining, which prohibited most mining in the state.
While today’s announcement does not indicate whether the authorities intend to take further action against the crypto companies, whistleblower information may be used for this.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this article owns BTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies.