As impactful as human beings have the power to be, our own actions can prove to be detrimental for us at times. In fact, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that many of the world’s problems had been down to our misplaced interests. Hence, to keep such a piece of reality from consistently having a wide-scale effect, we have made a point of practicing close regulation across all the major sectors. Now, while these regulatory measures are largely designed as per the specific needs of every sector, they do leave a lot to be desired for the industry players. You see, having a limited wriggle room creates a scenario where many companies end up resorting to the acts of rules evasion, thus pretty much defying the purpose of such regulations. The said activity was already rampant, but it touched an alarming level once technology arrived on the scene. With technology’s unparalleled abilities in play and regulators’ hesitation in embracing them, the companies gained an almost unbeatable edge over the law. Furthermore, just when the regulators thought they were getting close, the world dropped a bombshell by bringing cryptocurrency into the picture. If we are talking about all the crypto-related events that have transpired to this day, an honest assessment of them will have to include their controversial nature. The controversy isn’t there only because the currency didn’t fit our traditional financial system. Instead, it has been more about how people are using crypto to conveniently carry out tasks like fraud, money laundering, and what not. Nevertheless, by the looks of it, a change is finally underway, as the regulators get more serious about monitoring virtual currency, and their transformed stance was on full display during a recent breakthrough.
The U.S. government has announced that it has seized over $56 million worth of cryptocurrency from one of the accessories in BitConnect scam. According to the reports, this stands as the single largest cryptocurrency recovery to this date, and it was set in motion by a man called Glen Arcaro, who is said to have surrendered all the assets by himself. The recovered coins are now going to be sold in a bid to pay back the victims. Even though the figures here are seemingly massive, they only show you a tiny part of the whole gamut.
BitConnect’s scam, as discovered by Securities and Exchange Commission, robbed the investors of $2 billion in total. The scam happened to have elements of both a Ponzi, as well as a pyramid scheme. By using many agents like Arcaro, the company was able to lure in investors from all over the world. This, of course, was partnered with a promise that it had the technology to generate a sizably higher rate on return than any other crypto platform. Once BitConnect had the money, the company would use it to pay off old investors.
After pleading guilty in September, Arcaro now faces 20 years of imprisonment. The declaration of his sentence is due on 7th January 2022.
