Global regulators scrutinise Facebook’s cryptocurrency ambitions

Partner Bambos Tsiattalou comments on the global anti-money laundering watchdog’s close monitoring developments in Facebook’s planned Libra cryptocurrency and growing regulatory scrutiny of the project, in Wealth Briefing.

Bambos’ comments were published in Wealth Briefing, 16 September 2019, and can be found here.

JP Morgan’s global head of precious metals trading has been charged in the US with running an eight-year “racketeering conspiracy” to manipulate markets. The DoJ alleged that the defendants engaged in widespread spoofing, market manipulation and fraud while working on the precious metals desk.

Bambos Tsiattalou, founding partner at specialist fraud and financial crime law firm, Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, said:

“It’s all very well that the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force seeks to cement its attitude as uncompromising and unyielding, however, their claims to monitor developments on Facebook’s planned Libra cryptocurrency is simply virtue signalling at its finest.”

“Monitoring developments will not make a difference to crime fighting and it reeks of the usual vague jargon that we are very much used to with financial task forces.” Tsiattalou added.