The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has a Whistleblower program in place regarding pump and dump schemes for virtual currencies and digital tokens. Virtual currencies would line up with Bitcoin, Ethereum etc. while digital tokens are from the thousands of initial coin offerings that blur the line between money, securities and a specific utility. The program has been around for awhile but we recently were made aware of the document outlining the program.
The CFTC states:
Blow the whistle on pump-and-dump schemers
Virtual currency and digital token pump- and-dump schemes continue because they are mostly anonymous. If you have original information that leads to a successful enforcement action that leads to monetary sanctions of $1 million or more, you could be eligible for a monetary award of between 10 percent and 30 percent. For more information, or to submit a tip, visit the CFTC’s whistleblower.gov website.
The CFTC states says they have received complaints from consumers who have lost money in pump and dump schemes. While their regulatory oversight may be limited, the CFTC maintains a “general anti-fraud and manipulation enforcement authority over virtual currency cash markets as a commodity in interstate commerce. In addition, some of the coin exchanges are taking measures to identify and block accounts that participate in pump-and-dump activities.”
