US attorney general releases guidelines for enforcing crypto laws

William Barr, the attorney general for the U.S., published official guidelines for keeping crypto markets accountable.

The lead U.S. attorney's Cyber-Digital Task Force put together the guidelines, officially calling them: Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework, according to an Oct. 8 statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The new guidelines come after the DoJ and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission went after crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, citing multiple illegal activities.

The lengthy report itself included 83 pages of content on crypto, its "Legitimate uses," its "Illicit uses," applicable regulating bodies, and a game plan going forward.

Among the mentioned categories within the crypto space, the report pointed out privacy assets.

The report continued by asserting U.S. jurisdiction over individuals whose crypto transactions interact with U.S.-based servers.

The burgeoning crypto and blockchain space is a complicated one, as the report also noted while pointing out criminal activities such as pump and dumps - an age-old illegal tactic from the stock market, modernized through crypto.

Among its listed legitimate crypto use cases, the framework included payments for goods and services, void of third parties.

"Proponents of cryptocurrency contend that, by eliminating the need for financial intermediaries to validate and facilitate transactions, cryptocurrency has the potential to minimize transaction costs and to reduce corruption and fraud," the document explained, while subsequently pointing toward the asset class as an inflation hedge.

"To promote public safety and protect national security, all stakeholders - from private industry to regulators, elected officials, and individual cryptocurrency users-will need to take steps to ensure cryptocurrency is not used as a platform for illegality. Indeed, for cryptocurrency to realize its truly transformative potential, it is imperative that these risks be addressed."