Cryptocurrency has long been associated with pure and simple frauds and frauds for a long time, dating back at least to the massive Bitcoin loss of MT. Gox Crypto Exchange in 2014. In many ways, crypto is an ideal vehicle to commit fraud because of its broad adoption by criminals, the anonymity of transactions and a gullible audience because of its sight overall criminals, anonymity of transactions and a gullible audience that the public gullible because of the view of criminals, the anonymity of transactions and a gullible audience that the public gullible due to the sight of cryptocurrency as lottery tickets for wealth.
While the cryptocurrency really struck the dominant current With the Bitcoin climb in 2017It has exploded in popularity since 2020, when the federal reserve has dropped interest rates to zero, by encouraging a leak in risky assets. Even the American president Donald Trump now has a cryptocurrency ($ Trump) and the first lady Melania Trump also has her room ($ Melania). President Trump has become a notable supporter of cryptography and presented the American Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.
The recent emergence and explosion of the cryptocurrency in the dominant current also brought it a fraud tour, explosions and ShootWhere the creators of Crypto simply leave with the money that was invested in their crypto project. Here are five of the biggest cryptography scandals.
The many cryptographic scams testify to the danger of investing in cryptocurrency.
FTX was one of the largest exchanges of cryptography in the world and one of the largest explosions, after the cryptocurrency market crisis in 2022. FTX was supposed to have $ 11.3 billion in customer assets in Alameda Research, the company’s cover of the company. However, only $ 2.3 billion in these funds could be found, because FTX had removed customer account funds and used them for its own ends – the embezzlement, according to the United States Ministry of Justice. The FTX filed for a record in November 2022. FTX founder and CEO, Sam Bankman Fried, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy to whiten money and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024.
Binance holding, the name behind the immense Binance Crypto ExchangeIn November 2023 guilty of a variety of crimes in November 2023, including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and non-compliance with the money transmission company. The company has agreed to pay more than $ 4 billion in costs. At the same time, the CEO of the company, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty for not having maintained an effective money laundering program, then resigned from his CEO post. “His voluntary failures allowed money to circulate to terrorists, cybercriminals and children’s abusers via his platform,” said the secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen at the time. Binance was launched in 2017 and quickly became the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
The year 2022 was difficult for cryptocurrency because the increase in rates has removed traders opposed to the risk of the sector. And this lack of confidence helped to explode Terra USD, a stablecoin set to the US dollar. In May 2022, traders began to sell Stablecoin and, for technical reasons, he had trouble maintaining his ankle with the dollar. After this initial breaking of the ankle, the part detached out of control and fell, becoming practically worthless over a few days. It was one of the first cryptographic explosions in 2022 because the federal reserve quickly increased interest rates to combat inflation.
The Squid Game Coin was launched in 2021 to reproduce on the popularity of the Netflix series “Squid Game”, promising an online game “Play-to-Garn” based on the series. Unfortunately, the developers of the play have treated its investors just as bad as the competitors of the series were treated. Squid Coin was a conventional carpet traction operation, with the founders of the fleeing project with customer funds just days after the project launch. The room soaked in its few days of existence, culminating around $ 2,861 per room, but investors had trouble selling the tokens. A few days after the launch, the founders of the project collected $ 3.36 million paid by investors and disappeared. In a few minutes, the room dropped less than a penny. Although small in total value, fraud was a media sensation, with many cryptographic traders learning what a carpet traction is.
Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, promoted a cryptocurrency called $ Libra in February 2025 Publications on social media. “This private project will be dedicated to encouraging the growth of the Argentine economy by funding small companies and Argentine startups,” said a message on X in translation. Depending on the message, millions of people spilled into the medal. But a few hours later, initiates, who owned most of the cryptocurrency, sold and took around 250 million dollars with them, and the crypto price crashed 90% or more. The marketing team behind Argentine fraud is also the same that launched the cryptocurrency of Melania Trump.
According to the New York Times.
The cryptocurrency is associated with scams for various reasons:
-
Get-Rich-Squick mentality: The cryptocurrency as a whole promises the possibility of becoming rich quickly, transforming what claims to be an investment in a lottery ticket. No question, many cryptos have skyrocketed, but literally thousands of people are practically worthless. The crooks attack the lack of knowledge of the victims in search of an easy way to obtain wealth.
-
Public ignorance of cryptocurrency: Few public members understand how cryptocurrency works and the need to obtain digital assets, so it can be easy to make a technically non-sophisticated victim.
-
Cryptocurrency is not supported by nothing: Most cryptocurrencies are not supported by something such as assets or cash flows of an underlying company. Some individuals could create a website to SameFor example, without money and try to sell them to investors as a fast-look rich investment. Since crypto has no fundamental value, the only thing that supports the crypto prices is demand for them.
-
Anyone can create a cryptocurrency: Literally, anyone can create a cryptocurrency, and 37 million people already exist in March 2025, according to Tangem, a blockchain company.
-
Semi-anonymat of transactions: Cryptocurrency allows people to move money anonymously (or at least semi-anonymous). Thus, those who do not want their transactions to be associated with them, such as criminals, find that it is an effective way to move money.
-
Facilitates crime: Due to its anonymity, crypto is an effective way to facilitate crime, allowing criminals to extort individuals, pay illegal transactions and then whiten money.
-
Cryptographic transactions are irrevocable: Once the cryptographic coins have been sent somewhere or stolen, they left for good. It is almost impossible to recover them. Criminals can run away with your money and you can’t do anything about it.
These factors have all created an environment that allows crooks to easily use crypto to dive the public.
Cryptocurrency is an ideal way to facilitate crime, and the lack of public knowledge on crypto and its desire to become rich quickly combining to create an excellent recipe for scams and frauds. Traders must be aware of the risks they run when they exchange crypto and protect themselves from scams.
Editorial advance: all investors are invited to conduct their own independent research on investment strategies before taking an investment decision. In addition, investors are informed that the performance of past investment products is not a guarantee of appreciation of future prices.
