CFTC promises to protect 'the burgeoning markets for digital assets such as Bitcoin'

On Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission made a fraudster pay back $7.4 million to investors while vowing to protect the Bitcoin market.

Per the CFTC's announcement, James McDonald, Director of the commission's enforcement division, said

The CFTC will continue working to protect our markets, including the burgeoning markets for digital assets such as Bitcoin, from fraudulent schemes, and will work in parallel with our criminal law enforcement colleagues where appropriate.

Today's announcement concerns Jon Barry Thomson, who pleaded guilty to commodities fraud for convincing two investors to send him over $7 million for a Bitcoin investment scheme that never materialized. It follows a broader trend this week, which has seen an incredibly active CFTC take the helm of a number of enforcement actions in the crypto markets. 

Just yesterday, the CFTC filed charges against Seychelles-domiciled crypto exchange Bitmex for failure to register as a derivatives exchange in the U.S.