The Department of Justice (DoJ) in the United States has been actively investigating fraud in the cryptocurrency space in recent years. It's a strategy which has proven to be arguably more successful than regulations set by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Wire fraud is considered as the "most powerful law in crypto" by Reuters due to its nature as it does not require any securities classification of digital asset. Such charges are usually handled by state attorney generals and the DoJ, while the SEC's role is to focus on civil penalties and fines.

The DoJ's success in criminalizing crypto criminals has been growing. Notable examples are Ishan Wahi, former Coinbase product manager, and Nathaniel Chastain, ex-OpenSea manager out of whom convictions were made using wire fraud and money laundering charges. This avoids taking legal matters such as securities classification of cryptocurrencies of the hands of the SEC.

The DoJ continues to strengthen its capacity to detect fraudulent activities within the crypto industry by applying this common playbook. One of its latest victory was with ex- Bitcoiin2gen promoter John DeMarr and Karl Greenwood who was involved with OneCoin. This demonstrates their commitment to punish those who engaged in illegal activities regardless of the security classification of crypto assets.



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