Half of CFTC’s enforcement cases in the last year involved digital assets News ▸ US ▸ Regulation
Half of CFTC’s enforcement cases in the last year involved digital assets
The agency reported that 47 of of the 96 actions in brought in the last year were crypto-related and focused on both well-known and obscure targets.
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Updated: Nov. 8, 2023 at 2:12 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released its enforcement results for the 2023 fiscal year on Nov. 7., in which the agency reported 96 enforcement actions. Of these, 47 of those cases were related to digital assets.
Some of those actions are accounted for by charges alleging that Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, Alameda Research, and three associates carried out a fraudulent commodity scheme that involved misappropriation and illegal offerings, leading customers to lose $8 billion in funds. Those charges are separate from the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s criminal charges, on which Bankman-Fried was recently convicted.
Another CFTC action targeted Binance and related companies, founder Changpeng Zhao, and former chief compliance officer Samuel Lim. Two other actions targeted the failed lending company Celsius and its former CEO, Alex Mashinsky.
Other actions involved lesser-known platforms
The CFTC also targeted Mango Markets hacker Avraham Eisenberg, who is said to have used a “complex manipulation strategy” to steal $110 million of crypto.
The agency additionally won a victory against Ooki DAO in a significant case that allowed the decentralized group behind the platform to be held legally responsible.
The CFTC also targeted Digitex LLC and other parties that illegally offered futures transactions and attempted to manipulate the price of the Digitex Futures token.
Finally, the CFTC described Mirror Trading International’s record-breaking civil monetary penalty, charges against three DeFi platforms, and an enforcement sweep against 14 entities that offered unregistered forex and digital asset services.
The CFTC said that its 96 enforcement actions resulted in more than $4.3 billion in penalties and other fines but did not provide a subtotal for its 47 crypto actions.
The agency released a similar enforcement report in October 2022, at which time it said that it carried out 18 enforcement actions during the fiscal year. There appears to be some overlap in the companies targeted by the agency in each year.
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Posted In: US, Regulation
Author 
Mike Dalton
Before transitioning to crypto writing in 2018, Mike studied library and information sciences. Currently, he resides on Canada's West Coast.
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FTX
FTX is a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, that was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Zixiao “Gary” Wang in May 2019.
Binance
Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading more than 100 cryptocurrencies.
Celsius Network
Celsius Network is a bankrupt cryptocurrency lending company that was founded in 2017 and headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey.