New York prosecutors are pushing to turn unlicensed crypto operations into a jailable offense, arguing that civil fines have failed to deter a growing underground crypto economy. The proposal, introduced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie, is called the CRYPTO Act—short for Cryptocurrency Regulation Yields Protections, Trust, and Oversight. The bill would impose criminal penalties on virtual currency businesses operating without state licenses, upgrading violations that currently carry only civil fines to criminal offenses with graduated penalties ranging from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class C felony for businesses handling $1 million or more in cryptocurrency within one year. A Class C felony conviction carries a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in state prison.
Bragg said the expansion of crypto has enabled “a shadow financial system” that allows criminals to move and conceal illicit funds with ease. “It is long past time for businesses that operate without a virtual currency license and flout due diligence requirements to face criminal penalties,” the DA stated. The measure addresses a growing enforcement gap as crypto increasingly facilitates criminal activity while unlicensed operators face minimal consequences. Unlike federal law, which allows up to five years in prison for unlicensed money transmission, New York currently imposes only civil penalties on violators, with eighteen other states already criminalizing unlicensed crypto operations.
Speaking at New York Law School, Bragg framed crypto enforcement as a second-term priority alongside guns and shoplifting, warning legislators that criminals exploit regulatory blind spots to launder proceeds from guns, drugs, and fraud. He urged lawmakers to close loopholes that allow unlicensed operators to evade prosecution, highlighting a $51 billion criminal economy thriving in these gaps.
Nicolai Søndergaard, Research Analyst at Nansen, told Decrypt that nothing new is being outlawed—crypto, DeFi, and users aren’t being targeted. The rules about who needs a license already exist; what changes is the consequence for ignoring those rules. Søndergaard warned that introducing criminal penalties while regulatory boundaries remain unclear could push companies to act conservatively or avoid New York altogether, making the industry more institutional and “more cautious, more bank-like,” even as it cleans up unlicensed operators and reduces regulatory arbitrage.
Last year, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams called for scrapping New York’s BitLicense at a major Bitcoin conference, saying the regime had become a barrier to crypto innovation and investment. Introduced in 2015, the BitLicense requires crypto businesses operating in New York State to meet strict compliance standards aimed at consumer protection, with application and compliance costs that can run from roughly $5,000 to well over $100,000. Adams, who famously converted his first three mayoral paychecks into Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2022, recently came under scrutiny over NYC Token, a Solana-based crypto he promoted that briefly hit a $600 million market cap before crashing amid allegations that a linked wallet siphoned nearly $1 million in liquidity.
Bitcoin’s mathematically capped supply makes it a superior scarce asset to gold in an era of rising institutional demand, according to Ark Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood. In her “2026 Outlook” report, Wood analyzes the recent divergence between the two assets, noting that years of pressure have not broken the US economy but have wound it tight. In a New Year’s letter, she shares her coiled spring theory and 2026 outlook, including insights on inflation, productivity, AI, Bitcoin, and gold.
Lightning struck twice this week for solo Bitcoin miners, with each of them earning roughly $300,000 worth of BTC. Early Thursday morning, a solo miner landed a 3.157 BTC reward (including fees), worth roughly $304,000 at the time it was paid. This was preceded by another solo miner successfully mining a block on Tuesday and earning a payout valued at $295,000. Instead, each miner received the full payout, a rare outcome given the dominance of large, industrial-scale mining operations.
MetaMask is continuing its expansion beyond the Ethereum ecosystem, announcing Thursday that it has added native support for the Tron blockchain after previous moves to add chains like Bitcoin and Solana. The wallet has integrated native Tron support across its mobile and browser platforms, allowing users to manage their Tron-based digital assets and interact with apps directly within the wallet interface. (Disclosure: MetaMask is a product of Consensys, one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)
