Benjamin Sauter Digs into U.S. Crypto Enforcement in Brave New Coin’s Crypto Conversation Podcast
July 2, 2021
Publication: Brave New Coin
Following an article he wrote with Evelyn Sheehan and Amanda Tuminelli in Brave New Coin on fighting the U.S. government’s aggressive playbook in crypto cases, Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sauter sat down with the publication’s senior editor Andy Pickering to dive deeper into the enforcement issues in an episode of the podcast, “Crypto Conversation.”
Mr. Sauter began by re-emphasizing the shift in priorities by U.S. criminal authorities to policing money laundering, tax evasion and other crimes in the crypto space, with prosecutors deploying old tricks in new ways, including the dawn raid and denial of bail. He also touched on moves by the IRS, FinCEN and other agencies looking to collect more information from digital currency exchanges about wallets and transactions, chipping away at the anonymity of blockchain with implications yet to be fully determined.
Mr. Sauter also weighed in on the future regulatory regime in the U.S. over digital assets, pointing out that while there are some moves on the state level, a healthy debate among politicians and some sympathetic voices in government, in the near term the industry is likely to be regulated by government enforcement of old laws. Mr. Sauter ended by highlighting the need for people to stay proactive to stay ahead of aggressive U.S. enforcement.