[aje403]

Interesting to see it's in new york - I wonder what role the big players in finance have had in lobbying for this. Nonetheless, this is great. I would bet every single crypto exchange has their hand deep in the honey pot so they deserve whatever an investigation turns up.

[microtherion]

While lobbying may have a role to play, it's likely that NY also has more prosecutorial expertise on financial shenanigans than any other place in the US (Due to past and current misdeeds of said big players in finance).

[52-6F-62]

I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

In Toronto, TMX Inc (holders of the Toronto Stock Exchange) along with Paycase and Bank of Montreal have recently organized to establish their own trading desk/brokerage at the TSX for cryptocurrencies. The news of that came about a week or two after Bank of Montreal banned all purchases of cryptocurrency both on their debit and credit cards.

While I'm suspicious of the banks' intentions in some of these cases— I'm with you. There's just been too many outright scams, ponzi schemes, and theft.

[paulgb]

I am all for reasonable suspicion regarding banks, but I feel like banks banning speculating on cryprocurrencies with borrowed money is just good risk management.

[52-6F-62]

Absolutely! I would have been less suspicious in this case were it not for their banning of debit card/Interac use as well.

Many other Canadian banks banned the purchases on credit cards alone—not preventing anyone from using Interac Online or Visa Debit, etc.

[paulgb]

Ah, I didn't realize that was the case.

[21]

I'm pretty sure a bunch of big finance players were involved, but at least some of them I bet were not in the way you implied.

If I were a big fund or HFT shop I for sure want as much insurance as possible that my bitcoin trading funds are kept safe. Futures have too low liquidity, and don't trade on weekend when many moves happen.

[aje403]

I'm not suggesting anything in particular and maybe shouldn't have used the word lobbyist and certainly don't want to sound like a conspiracy nut - but it's a good thing to keep in mind that if/when existing banks and existing exchanges become involved in trading cryptos, they'll want less competition from the vulnerable incumbents.

I completely agree though. I can't even begin to imagine what the crypto exchanges are getting away with. I haven't read about about any dark pool scandals in years so I think the banks have been behaving better.

[21]

I can tell you one thing going on: legendary stop hunts.

But I don't think it's the exchanges who are behind them, but other big players.

[aje403]

At the same time, who knows? Bribe a dev 1mm and ask him to send you a snapshot of the order book periodically at a crypto exchange. Just imagine what you can get away with with that wouldn't fly in an actual exchange with silos, compliance, heavy auditing, etc. If I owned a crypto exchange right about now, I'd make sure I have a second passport ready.

[GW150914]

New York takes on a lot of cases with national implications, usually out of the Southern District. Having the AG on this is an even bigger deal than that, and a strong indication of a potential crackdown nationally.

[darawk]

> I would bet every single crypto exchange has their hand deep in the honey pot

I really doubt it. These exchanges are making unbelievable amounts of money in fees. There's no reason for them to risk that just to make a little more.

[spookthesunset]

These exchanges are all operating completely outside of any regulation or oversight. I wouldn't be surprised to find if most of them were completely insolvent and didn't hold a good majority of the crypto currency they claim to. I also wouldn't be surprised if a good fraction of their exchange volume was completely fabricated.

If you use these exchanges, you are basically playing in a wild-west casino where the house has every single advantage and every incentive to siphon off every dime of your money.

[ceejayoz]

> There's no reason for them to risk that just to make a little more.

Martha Stewart's insider trading saved her a grand total of $45,673.

[drawnwren]

Until now, that 'risk' has closely approached 0. In the case of Mtgox, it may have actually turned out to be negative.