Combating Crypto Fraud: New SAFE Act Signals Coordinated Federal Crackdown

The scale of cryptocurrency-related losses in the United States has reached alarming levels. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, American citizens fell victim to $9.3 billion in crypto investment scams during 2024—representing a concerning 66% surge from the previous year. This explosion in fraud cases has prompted swift legislative action at the federal level.

Senators Elissa Slotkin and Jerry Moran responded to this crisis by introducing the Strengthening Agency Framework for Crypto Enforcement (SAFE Act) at the start of this week. The legislation represents a significant shift toward synchronized enforcement efforts, bringing together the U.S. Treasury, law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and private sector participants in a unified strategy against cryptocurrency fraud schemes.

The structural approach embedded in this bill has drawn positive attention from legal experts and industry observers. Gabriel Shapiro, General Counsel at Delphi Labs, highlighted on X that if properly executed, this framework could create meaningful deterrence. The involvement of high-level officials—including the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of FinCEN, and the Director of the U.S. Secret Service—signals a comprehensive, multi-agency approach that fraudsters may find increasingly difficult to navigate.

What distinguishes the SAFE Act is its emphasis on institutional coordination rather than isolated enforcement actions. By aligning Treasury oversight, law enforcement capabilities, regulatory expertise, and private sector intelligence, the framework aims to create an environment where cryptocurrency fraud operations face heightened detection risks and coordinated legal consequences. Such structural integration could prove instrumental in reducing the vulnerability currently exploited by bad actors in this space.