Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are working together to combat illicit activity after a number of high-profile cryptocurrency scams in New York City. The Cryptocurrency Regulation Yields Protections, Trust, and Oversight (CRYPTO) Act, a state senate bill sponsored by Myrie, adds serious jail time for those who break the law.
The idea behind digital money being transferred anonymously online is actually not as new or high-tech a concept as some might assume. The practice goes back to the early 1980s, with the establishment of eCash, and took off with the launch of Bitcoin in 2009. Nowadays, the market cap for crypto globally has grown over the years to about $3.1 trillion.
“For those doing it the right way, virtual currency gets rid of some of the obstacles and barriers in our traditional finance system. One that we know has been imperfect and that has not allowed for access for certain segments of our population,” said Myrie, who chairs the Senate Codes Committee. “But I think the bad actors have been drawn to cryptocurrency because of some of the pseudonymity attached with it.”
Crypto is a virtual and public encrypted financial system that is not government-backed. This differs from traditional “fiat” currency like the U.S. Dollar or Japanese Yen. Many operators within the crypto space are indeed legal and regulated. However, the criminal element of crypto in New York has become a hotbed of fraud, scams, and other financial crimes as of late, said Myrie.
Overall, $51 billion in crypto was received by illicit addresses in 2024, up from $11 billion in 2020, according to the Chainanalysis Crypto Crime Trends report. In 2025, Chainanalysis saw significant concentrations of stolen fund victims in the U.S., Germany, Russia, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea.
“Now under New York law, the crypto license has civil penalties but you shouldn’t be able to just price in and pay the fine,” said Bragg. “What this bill would do is add criminal penalties so that we can hold people accountable.”
Under the CRYPTO Act, if businesses operate without a crypto license and deal in amounts of $1 million or more, then they could face a tier of charges, starting at an A misdemeanor (maximum of 1 year in jail), up to a C felony (maximum of 5-to-15 years in prison). Similar criminal crypto laws have been implemented in 18 other states. In 2025, Myrie also introduced the R.I.P.O.F.F Act, which increases penalties for fraud in financial systems and broadens the definitions of bribery.
Typically, money laundering investigations rely on banks and financial institutions that are required to verify their customers and transactions. But crypto has several loopholes that make it ideal for moving money for illicit activity, like drugs, guns, or vehicles, undetected through people that aren’t registered, said Bragg.
In 2024, Victoria Jacobs was convicted of using crypto to support “terrorist” training groups in Syria and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. She laundered $12,000 by receiving crypto as well as Western Union and MoneyGram wires from supporters around the globe and sending the funds to Bitcoin wallets they controlled. “We were able to detect it, in part, because the defendant was also using traditional banks. So those banks had obligations to report,” said Bragg.
Robert Taylor was also convicted in 2024 for an illegal Bitcoin ATM business in at least 46 locations across the city, where he essentially advertised criminal activity on social media. Between 2017 and 2018, he converted more than $5.6 million of his customers’ cash into Bitcoin while charging them enormous fees.
Myrie added there’s also a proliferation of crypto scammers using other technology — like generative AI, voice generators, fake videos, and fraudulent websites — to prey on everyday New Yorkers and vulnerable populations, like the elderly or romantic hopefuls.
“There is a particular shame that is attached to being scammed in this way,” said Myrie. “Because under normal circumstances, it’s hard for many people to come to law enforcement if they have been a victim of a crime. But imagine a crime that you can’t talk to your family about because you are ashamed that you were taken advantage of. These are the types of circumstances that we are facing now.”
Adams and the NYC Token
Former Mayor Eric Adams’ NYC Token cryptocurrency is quite possibly his most controversial business venture. A hard feat considering there was a time Adams was indicted by the federal government and facing bribery and corruption charges (now dropped). Adams launched the digital asset on Jan. 14, with its market capping at about $600 million. Within hours of the launch, $2.5 million was pulled in liquidity. While $1.5 million was later returned to the account, investors and the general public rapidly slammed Adams for allegedly scamming people.
Myrie said he’s unclear about all the details surrounding Adams’ token and can’t for sure say that it was criminal activity that would fall under the CRYPTO Act.
“But it did look like what we have seen in other spaces, where we have seen people pump up a particular currency or a token and then quickly remove that liquidity, leaving a number of people holding the bag as the creators make off with some money,” said Myrie. “And our laws, as they currently exist, do not penalize that type of scheme. That’s what we are trying to do with this law, to discourage this type of activity.”
Bragg declined to comment directly on Adams’ crypto scam allegations, but said that the situation does “speak to how large the scope of the industry is.”
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