The U.S. derivatives watchdog said on Friday that it has filed charges against three separate virtual
currency operators alleging the defendants had defrauded customers and broken other commodity trading rules, in a further sign regulators globally are cracking down on the emerging asset class.
A lawsuit filed in court on December 15, 2016,
alleges that Paul Vernon, former CEO and principal
operator of Cryptsy, a money services business, and virtual
currency exchange, stole an estimated $ 8.2 million in customer assets through accounts maintained at Coinbase.