REGULATION

US Department of Justice loudly announces international crypto law enforcement action, ends up raiding an unknown exchange?

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US Department of Justice loudly announces international crypto law enforcement action, ends up raiding an unknown exchange?

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed on the early morning of 1/19 that it will announce a "international" cryptocurrency enforcement action at a later press conference, which is seen by the entire crypto community as a large-scale regulatory move targeting the crypto space.

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Crypto Community Mockery

The crypto community is not pleased with the Department of Justice's so-called "international law enforcement action," with most reactions being:

WTF is bitzlato?

EthHub co-founder Anthony Sassano tweeted:

Terra founder Do Kwon and 3ac boys from Three Arrows Capital are still at large, but thank God, the Department of Justice has devoted a lot of resources to pursue Bitzlato.

Bitcoin Magazine analyst Dylan LeClair:

I spend eight hours a day focusing on the crypto industry, but I have never heard of Bitzlato.

There are conflicting reports on the asset size of Bitzlato, but according to several analytical institutions, the volume calculated is not significant. Blockchain intelligence company Arkham Intelligence pointed out that of all addresses associated with Bitzlato, there is only about $1.95 million worth of ETH.

Furthermore, some analysts claim that the Department of Justice is only superficially combating money laundering and the dark web, but in reality, they are targeting Bitzlato's P2P transactions and lack of KYC, using this as a warning to all exchanges that no platform should allow trading without KYC.