Cryptocurrencies and Securities Fraud: In Need of Legal Guidance
9 Pages Posted: 4 Jul 2019 Last revised: 30 Jan 2021
Date Written: July 2, 2019
Abstract
The specificity of statutes is important when the statute provides for criminal penalties. This Essay examines a cryptocurrency fraud prosecution, looking at the issue of whether cryptocurrency is included in securities fraud statutes. It also looks at proposed legislation that would omit cryptocurrency as a security, but then calls for enhanced regulation and tax relief. Additional clarification is needed to ascertain whether cryptocurrency fraud can be prosecuted under current securities fraud statutes. This Essay questions such prosecutions when the location of key definitions rest within agency regulations. Although specificity may not be needed to account for every imaginable type of fraud, when it comes to cryptocurrencies, Congress needs to provide more direction.
Keywords: fraud, white collar crime, cyrtocurrency, criminal statutes
JEL Classification: K14, K22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation