Bloomberg: Major Crypto Traders Meet to Establish Industry Blacklist, Standards

A group major cryptocurrency traders is considering the idea of creating a blacklist of counterparties engaged in nefarious activities in the crypto space, Bloomberg reported on May 8.

At a meeting in Chicago on Tuesday, a group of traders from 35 digital assets firms including such industry players as trading firm DRW Holdings Inc.’s Cumberland crypto unit, Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Holdings, and tech startup Ripple proposed to create a blacklist for parties who reneged on trades and engaged in dubious activities.

Some reportedly suggested to create an accreditation for companies as approved by the association of crypto-related businesses known as the Crypto OTC Roundtable Asia (CORA). Darius Sit, a Singapore-based managing partner at crypto trading firm QCP Capital, reportedly argued that:

“A community-wide effort to improve compliance standards would prevent liabilities that might stem from trading with bad actors or dealers that trade with bad actors. A self-governance initiative like this is also something that regulators are keen to see.’’

The meeting was held the same day that leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance experienced a major security breach, wherein hackers were able to withdraw 7,000 bitcoins (BTC) worth $40,705,000 at the time. In a letter on Binance’s website, CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that the bitcoins were withdrawn from its hot wallets, which contain only 2% of the exchange’s total bitcoin holdings.

In late April, Jonathan Levin, the co-founder and COO of analytical blockchain startup Chainalysis, claimed that at least 95% of cryptocurrency crimes investigated by law enforcement involve bitcoin. Levin, however, noted that the transparency of cryptocurrencies is helping law enforcement to build cases against suspects quicker than in traditional finance, namely because investigators no longer need to rely on obtaining records from foreign banks.