New York Securities Fraud Lawyers Blog
As the old adage goes, one good deed deserves another. And so it is for bitcoin, which the Wall Street Journal reported may receive regulatory oversight in the not-too-distant future. It seems that enough people complained about what appears to have been a hacker-theft that led to the bankruptcy filing by Mt. Gox, until recently one of the major bitcoin exchanges. While the Federal Reserve appear unwilling, the WSJ noted that the Federal Trade Commission recently stated their goal “is to protect consumers, whether they pay by credit card, check, by some sort of virtual currency.” Despite Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy filing, the market for bitcoin continues to be routed through exchanges that up until now have operated with minimal to no oversight and bitcoins continue to be used to purchase services and goods, and likely, as a basis for investment.
The nature of Mt. Gox’s collapse is noteworthy. As reported on Tech Crunch, over the course of approximately one month, a supposed software bug caused Mt. Gox to lose approximately $500 million worth of bitcoin, including 750,000 bitcoin owned by investors and 100,000 bitcoin owned by Mt. Gox itself. Realizing the theft, Mt. Gox ceased investor transfers and shut down at the end of February 2014 and applied for bankruptcy protection from creditors. The WSJ reported on March 5, 2014 that the shutdown may have been caused by Mt. Gox’s bank refusing to process wire transfers after its repeated requests that Mt. Gox close its account.
Mt. Gox’s predicament may be the most publicized, but it certainly is not alone. According to the WSJ article on March 3, 2014, a recent study found that of 40 bitcoin exchanges, 18 have closed in the past three years, generally causing customer accounts to be completely wiped out. The WSJ reported that fraud is sometimes the cause of such closures. In other related bitcoin news, it was reported by the New York Post on March 5, 2014 that Autumn Radke, the CEO of bitcoin exchange firm First Meta, as a result of what may have been suicide.
As of the end of February 2014, Bitcoin has slid in value to approximately $550, half of its value from a high of over $1,100 in mid-December 2013, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. Given this significant volatility, it is amazing that only now are regulators looking in to whether they have the ability to provide regulation over the currency. Currently, it is estimated that there is approximately $6.9 billion in bitcoin in the world.
In addition to the risk of total loss of one’s investment, bitcoin holds other hallmarks that make it a particularly risky investment, including that it is often effected in anonymous transactions and that transactions are irreversible, meaning defrauded parties often have no or limited recourse, as noted by the WSJ.
Investments based on bitcoin must still be marketed and sold in accordance with securities laws and related regulations, and so must be suitable for investors appropriate under each specific investor’s circumstances. If you believe you were not properly informed of the risks associated with an investment involving bitcoin, please contact the attorneys at Malecki Law to determine if you have a claim for damages.