New York to Probe Major Cryptocurrency Exchanges

New York is planning to probe 13 different cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase.

 Making Cryptocurrency Exchanges More Transparent

According to a recent CNBC report, New York Attorney General  Eric Schneiderman is currently investigating 13 different cryptocurrency exchanges. One of the most popular Bitcoin wallets, Coinbase, is also being investigated. As for the investigation, Schneiderman states:

Too often, consumers don’t have the basic facts they need to assess the fairness, integrity, and security of these trading platforms,

The exchanges will be forced to supply information of its operations, safety measures, and internal controls. In the last few months, hackers and cybercriminals have targeted more cryptocurrency exchanges in order to steal users’ funds. Schneiderman hopes that this probe will help to make cryptocurrency exchanges more transparent and secure for their customers’ funds.

Kraken Won’t Comply

Most exchanges were ready to hand over the data to Schneiderman, but one exchange decided to not comply. According to a CNBC report, Kraken, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, will not hand over the requested information. The CEO and co-founder of Kraken, Jesse Powell, said:

The resource diversion for this production is massive. This is going to completely blow up our roadmap! Then I realized we made the wise decision to get the hell out of New York three years ago and that we can dodge this bullet.

The Kraken CEO also added:

Ordinarily, we’re happy to help government understand our business, however, this is not the way to go about it. Kraken left New York because New York is hostile to crypto and this ‘questionnaire’ we received today proves that New York is not only hostile to crypto, it is hostile to business.

Most cryptocurrency exchanges and companies have left New York because they were required to obtain a BitLicense in order to operate.

What are your thoughts on this cryptocurrency exchange probe? Do you think that exchanges should hand over this information? Let us know in the comments below!

 Images courtesy of Pixabay and Bitcoinist archives.

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