New York’s attorney general has demanded an examination into 13 cryptocurrency exchanges, amongst them the Winklevoss twins’ Gemini exchange and Coinbase, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in America.
Speaking on the subject, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman stated that the move was intended to improve both transparency and accountability within the sector, and must be seen as a fact-finding mission, as opposed to a crackdown.
The affected exchanges have been asked to provide details on a number of different operational areas, including their internal controls and safeguards. The hope is that this will outfit consumers with the facts they require in order to fully assess the security, integrity, and fairness of their chosen trading platforms.
The overarching goal is thus to promote the accountability and in cryptocurrency markets. The Attorney General’s letter reads:
“With cryptocurrency on the rise, consumers in New York and across the country have a right to transparency and accountability when they invest their money. Yet too often, consumers don’t have the basic facts they need to assess the fairness, integrity, and security of these trading platforms. Our Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative sets out to change that, promoting the accountability and transparency in the virtual currency marketplace that investors and consumers deserve.”
The Gemini exchange proprietors – who are famed for their claim that Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from them – have made it known that they fully intend to cooperate with Schneiderman, stating: “We continue to embrace thoughtful regulation and collaboration on our mission to help build the future of money.”
It was the Winklevoss twins themselves who last month called for the creation of a new self-regulatory body to police the sector – the Virtual Commodity Association – a proposal which was praised by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The founding of such an organisation would certainly be of help to the CFTC, which currently relies on self-regulatory organisations for assistance in its work.
Other recipients of Schneiderman’s questionnaire included Bitfinex, bitFlyer, Binance, Bitstamp, Bittrex, Gate.io, Huobi.Pro, itBit, Payward, Poloniex, and Tidex. All successful exchanges whose cooperation could be of great help in improving the user experience in future and making the sector a safer place for all.
Featured image via Litecoin, Facebook
