With a Court in Manhattan sentencing a Bitcoin scammer to one and half years in prison, experts say it is a move in the right direction and would instill a higher level of sanity within the digital currency ecosystem.
Several schemes surrounding the crypto world has taken advantage of the growth in awareness of digital currency to defraud unsuspecting individuals.
With many self-acclaimed investment opportunities littering the internet, cases of scam and Ponzi schemes have become a common occurrence in recent times.
OneFxZone and HashOcean are two of such schemes that have been uncovered recently by Cointelegraph. However the events at a Manhattan court on Thursday July 21 2016 seems a step in the right direction in fighting internet scam, especially as it affects digital currencies. The sentence
Trendon Shavers , who operated a Bitcoin Savings and Trust was sentenced to one and half years in prison, and also ordered to forfeit $1.23 million and pay restitution in the same amount for operating what was called a “class Ponzi scheme”. This sentence was delivered by a US District Judge, Lewis Kaplan in a Manhattan court.
Speaking to Cointelegraph about the impact of this judgement on the crypto space, George Basiladze , the Founder of the UK payment gateway Cryptopay , thinks it is high time a precedent is set.
He says: “I think that this case emerged in a very timely manner – there are hundreds of bitcoin ponzi schemes and investment scams on the market. Now, there is a official statement – fraudsters will be punished, even scammers within the bitcoin community. Beware!” Jurisdiction
The President of Bitwage , Jonathan Chester points out what he thinks are the salient aspects of the judgment.Chester explains that by the standards of the United states, it was clear that Shavers was operating an illegal ponzi […]
