As I was saying bitcons” — confidence games that are going to eventually cheat anyone foolish enough to entrust their money to these scams. And they are dangerous because they allow rogue governments and crooks to live outside the rules and laws of society.
They are no more financial innovations — as their fans proclaim — than convicted mega-fraudster Bernie Madoff’s accounting.
I’ve called for federal scrutiny many times, but now it seems a unified Congress — yes, the Republicans and Democrats getting along for once — are joining the White House (when has that happened before?) to spur probes.
If you haven’t been following recent crypto-events you might think all the hubbub was caused by the announcement that Facebook was developing a cryptocurrency called Libra.
Facebook may not have many fans in Congress these days, but questions about Libra lit a fuse on what were seen as combustible regulatory problems regarding cryptocurrencies.
And if you’ve been playing around in this market, don’t be surprised if government agencies eventually come calling.
Here’s what I know.
About two years ago, according to a very reliable source, various US government agencies started looking into trading being done between Venezuela, North Korea, Somalia and Iran that were settled in crypto-dough.
All of these countries are in some way blacklisted from trading norms. The rogue nations access the so-called “dark Web” to settle a deal, that is, if a shipment of oil, say, can be smuggled in or out.
Cuba, for reasons only officials in that backward country could possibly understand, recently announced — yes, they made a public statement — that it would use cryptocurrencies to get around its trade sanctions.