Vikings

What is Vikings?

The distinction matters for crypto businesses. The filing shows regulatory work is moving forward, but exchanges and other market participants cannot yet consider it a set of rules they must adhere to. 

The CFTC’s move also comes as other US regulators continue to craft their own crypto policies. The agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly issued an interpretation in March on how certain crypto assets would be treated under federal securities laws. 

A lot of bigger questions remain without the CLARITY Act. The bill aimed to establish a federal framework for digital commodities and delineate the roles of the SEC and the CFTC. 

About Vikings

Çelik said: “If we can eliminate this sector, we will also minimise the funds flowing into the hands of the next criminal organisation.”  

The president of the Turkish Green Crescent Society, Associate Professor Mehmet Dinç, expanded on this point, highlighting the relationship between supply and demand in the fight against illegal betting. 

“In the fight against gambling, combating supply alone is not enough,” he said. “Combating demand alone is not enough; merely shutting down websites is not enough. This is an ecosystem: it starts with advertisements and continues through social media, sporting activities, influencers, games, mobile applications, payment systems, loans, bets, losses, debt and continued betting.” 

About Vikings

MP Yasser Gourari, one of the deputies promoting the measure, told Diwan FM that the bill provides for fines of MAD10,000 to MAD500,000 and prison terms of one to five years. Penalties rise where there is recidivism, involvement of minors or suspicion of money laundering.

He described online gambling and betting as a “social scourge“. Some people, he said, “after repeated losses and financial difficulties, have been driven to despair, sometimes to the point of contemplating suicide”.

The committee considered the bill once, on 3 February, and has since taken no further action.