Fraud risk in a cryptocurrency world

"Innovations in technology often change the world for the better. And yet, criminals, terrorists, and rogue states can use those same innovations for their own illegitimate ends, imposing great costs on the public. Today, few technologies are more potentially transformative and disruptive — and more potentially susceptible to abuse — than cryptocurrency.” – U.S. Deptartment of Justice’s “Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework.”

With over $2 trillion in circulation, digital assets (aka cryptocurrencies, or “crypto”) are increasingly becoming a mainstream form of payment worth more than all physical U.S. dollars and coins currently in circulation. (See “What Happens to Stocks and Cryptocurrencies When the Fed Stops Raining Money?” by Greg Ip, The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2021, and “Cryptocurrency is now worth more than all U.S. currency in circulation,” by Tony Tran, The Byte, May 9, 2021.)