Today, The New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) released a report detailing the lack of serious changes by many crypto exchanges to avoid and thwart market manipulation.
Details of the OAG’s Crypto Exchanges’ Report and Previous Inquiries
The report under the name “Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative,” aims to provide New York residents with pertinent information. The hope for the OAG is that the info will protect them from potential crypto market manipulation among other items.
As of right now, the OAG does not feel that the majority of exchanges worldwide are policing themselves against market manipulation. Back in April, an inquiry was launched by the OAG. We reported back then,
“The attorney general claims that in many cases, customers don’t have the knowledge and facts which they need to assess the integrity, fairness and security of the trading platforms before completing business transactions with them… Some of the information that the attorney general is seeking includes the legal and ownership structures of the exchanges themselves or their patent companies, their operations including any fees involved, their trading procedures and policies among other issues.”
Obviously, the OAG is taking these matters serious and want to provide protection for NY residents. Though, the process has been time consuming as some exchanges would not cooperate. It also did not help that the previous NY Attorney General gave his resignation in May.
Could this be a Reason why Goldman Sachs Backed Out?
Leading up to the beginning of this month, Goldman Sachs was on the warpath to create a crypto trading desk. This claim had the crypto-sphere excited for the potential of institutional investors joining the fray. With there new funds potentially entering the crypto markets, widespread adoption could almost be seen on the the horizon.
With reports like the one transpiring from the OAG, Goldman Sachs’ crypto desk hesitation seems much more reasonable. It also does not help that their headquarters are in New York City.
Though Goldman Sachs and other banking institutions like Citigroup and Morgan Stanley still monitoring and creating items for their customers, the future is still bright for institutional money to flow in the markets. The only question is when will the exchanges get their acts together?