“The crypto platform’s penalty was sharply reduced due to its ability to pay, according to US authorities.”, — write: www.coindesk.com
The peer-to-peer bitcoin BTC$67,640.99 marketplace that had been popular in Africa shut down in 2023, but Paxful had processed as much as $3 billion in crypto trades from 2017 to 2019, according to US authorities, including transactions for customers Backpage, an advertising platform for illicit sex work.
“This sentence sends a clear message: companies that turn a blind eye to criminal activity on their platforms will face serious consequences under US law,” said US Attorney Eric Grant for the Eastern District of California, in a statement.
On the Paxful platform, customers negotiate trades of digital assets for other items, such as cash, prepaid cards and gift cards. The founders were said to have marketed the site as a way around the Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money-laundering constraints.
Prosecutors originally contemplated a penalty of more than $112 million, but the firm was determined to be able to pay no more than $4 million.
Read More: Paxful’s Fall: Questions in the Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Exchange’s Demise
The US agency’s chairman said in a House hearing that he is open to a confidential briefing for lawmakers on the topic.
- US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins told a senior Democratic lawmaker that he can’t talk about the paused enforcement case against Justin Sun and his Tron Foundation, but he agreed he’d consider a confidential briefing for lawmakers.
- While Democrats targeted the SEC’s crypto enforcement stance in an oversight hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, Republicans focused on Atkins’ intentions to offer crypto regulations.
- Atkins said he’s pushing forward on rules that will closely align the agency with the Clarity Act on crypto market structure, even as that bill’s outcome in the Senate remains unclear.
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