Report From US OAG on Crypto Exchanges

[Lighthouze]

Reading the report from the US Attorney General's Office on the activities of crypto exchanges, it was appalling to see that Binance, one of the biggest exchanges in the space, and a few others declined to participate in provision of information on basic practices and functionality. I'll paraphrase the report, "...The OAG sought voluntary participation, expecting that platforms would embrace the opportunity to provide the public with much-needed clarity regarding basic practices and functionality. Most did. Nine of the thirteen platforms participated in the Initiative: Bitfinex (operated by iFinex Inc.), bitFlyer USA, Inc., Bitstamp, Ltd.,[2] Bittrex, Inc., Coinbase, Inc., Gemini Trust Company, itBit (operated by Paxos Trust Company), Poloniex (owned by Circle Internet Financial Limited), and Tidex (operated by Elite Way Developments LLP). The OAG separately invited HBUS – a platform that calls itself the U.S. "strategic partner" of Huobi Inc. – to respond, as the platform opened for trading in July 2018. HBUS elected to do so, and its responses are included in this Report. The information provided by these platforms forms the basis of this Report. Four platforms – Binance Limited, Gate.io (operated by Gate Technology Incorporated), Huobi Global Limited, and Kraken (operated by Payward, Inc.) – claimed they do not allow trading from New York and declined to participate. The OAG investigated whether those platforms accepted trades from within New York State. Based on this investigation, the OAG referred Binance, Gate.io, and Kraken to the Department of Financial Services for potential violation of New York’s virtual currency regulations."

Source: https://virtualmarkets.ag.ny.gov/

Should this be a cause for worry by users of these platform?