California Based P2P Trader Convicted of Illegal Money Transmission
Theresa Tetley, a.k.a. “bitcoin Maven,” pleaded guilty to federal charges of having operated a money transmission business without federal registration and that she conducted a financial transaction involving proceeds of drug trafficking.
According to prosecutors, Tetley earned at least $300,000 annually by operating an illegal, unregistered money transmitting business that exchanged the digital currency bitcoin for cash.
Sentencing scheduled for Monday was postponed. Tetley faces a 30-month (2 and 1/2 years) federal prison sentence and forfeiture of 40 bitcoin, $292,264 in cash, and 25 assorted gold bars seized by law enforcement on March 30.
Tetley’s business “fueled a black-market financial system in the Central District of California that purposely and deliberately existed outside of the regulated bank industry,” according to court documents.
Between 2014 and 2017, Tetley used the localbitcoins.com to advertise and conduct transactions related to the charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated that Tetley exchanged between $6 million and $9.5 million over the course of 3 years.
This is just another case in an ever-growing list of bitcoin traders being charged and convicted for illegally trading digital currency.
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The South African Reserve Bank(SARB), has officially announced its plans to experiment with cryptocurrency and bitcoin regulations.
Adopting Digital Currencies
Back in February 2017, the South African Reserve Bank the possibility of issuing a digital currency based on the blockchain technology. The SARB was actively observing countries that had issued their own digital currency. To date, was the only country that had officially launched a digital currency based on blockchain technology, the eDinar.
The SARB believes that a national cryptocurrency could greatly benefit South Africa, as its usage would strongly speed up transactions and lower fees. Tim Masela, head of the National Payments System at the SARB, stated:
If we go the route of issuing a digital currency, the objective would be to take advantage of emerging technologies so that we reap the benefits,[…]We foresee that these benefits could be realised, which would be good for the transacting public. But of course, the risks have to be borne in mind as well and that’s what we want to balance.
Experimenting With Regulation
According to a recent , the central bank decided to plan an initial trial for regulations tests for blockchain and cryptocurrency services. On July 19, Bankymoon, a blockchain solutions provider, announced that it was in talks with the South African Reserve Bank for a regulation test. Loerien Gamaroff, CEO of Bankkymoon noted following regarding the sandbox trial:
All we are doing at this point is seeing how far this relationship will go on within this sandbox,
He also added:
This is because the Reserve Bank is very hesitant to give a stamp of approval on anything that comes out. The sandbox will only be bitcoin-focused during this initial phase, but is focused on applying broad regulations to all cryptocurrencies,
Playing the Blockchain Game
The SARB might not be the only bank that is currently experimenting with blockchain technology. In a recent , the state bank of announced that it deployed an information network that is based on blockchain technology. The network was deployed in order to make registration of bank guarantees and their issuance easier and faster for banks.
What are your thoughts on this blockchain regulation trial by the SARB? Do you think that it will benefit the South African cryptocurrency market? Let us know in the comments below!
