While the world saw plenty of events taking place within the last few weeks from the death of George Floyd to New Zealand declaring the recovery of the last COVID-infected patient and the country free of the virus, many events shook the cryptocurrency space as well.
Bitcoin’s value shot above $10,000 during Monday evening which was short lived for a few hours. However, analysts predict now the value may rise up even higher up to $150K or more matching the insane bull run the cryptocurrency had in 2013. The currency’s value currently sits in the $9600’s with a surge possible at any given moment.
But not all news is good regarding bitcoin with a recent revelation of a scam uncovered by CipherTrace. They brought to light a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Wotoken, a Chinese cryptocurrency project, which stole around $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency by fooling 700,000 victims for nearly 3 years.
It is said that the scheme would not have been possible if the project would have needed to follow regulatory laws that the scammers were able to avoid.
Such scams tarnish the image of cryptocurrency and its widespread acceptance. Countries such as Russia are now creating laws that prohibit mining and exchanges of cryptocurrency but not putting in risk those who own small amounts of crypto.
The question now is put forward on what could be done to improve the use of cryptocurrency to allow for it to be accepted as the alternative payment method it is meant to be. What ways exist that could lead to more people to trade safely using digital money.
Enforce regulatory compliances in exchanges
To clearly eliminate the risk of trades being done by criminals and risky individuals, regulatory obligations need to be put in place such as KYC and AML screenings that are performed as customer due diligence to verify identities of cryptocurrency customers.
Technology has come far to provide efficient tools that do seamless verification along with keeping updated lists using global watchlists to stay clear of doing business with criminals and troublemakers to avoid the possibility of financial crimes taking place.
Higher degree of security
Besides exchanges, there must be tighter security where the use of cryptocurrency is done in payment processes. Both parties must be verified, the payee and recipient, to ensure they are not people with shady backgrounds to avoid the exchange of money earned unlawfully.
They must also be educated to be aware and wary of whom they do business with. Making use of smart technology such as biometrics and document verification may be effective to authenticate customers and sellers when it matters most.
Avoid dangers while trading
While things are the way they are, cryptocurrency should still remain vigilant of possible threats they may face. A lot may be done to improve security just as much as thieves think of new ingenious ways to scam poor unknowing victims. Just as mentioned earlier, Ponzi schemes still take place to exploit those who seek shares and rewards ‘too good to be true.
But not all criminals think alike thus the existence of many scams that involve crypto. Doing a little research about whom you give your hard-earned money or the exchange you think about using may go a long way and save the trouble of going through immense losses.
Of course, the wisdom of following strict measures of using cryptocurrency is certainly effective as long as cryptocurrency itself retains its worth as a fiat money alternative. Just as much as a surge is soon expected to happen, the possibility of a fall similar to the halvening happening is still not impossible.
