CFTC announces $1M award for crypto whistleblower

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that a whistleblower who assisted the financial regulator in an enforcement action “connected to digital asset markets” would receive a $1 million reward.

In an Aug. 8 notice, the CFTC said it had brought an enforcement action against a firm connected to the digital asset space based on “information about improper trading” provided by an unnamed whistleblower. The regulator did not suggest which crypto firm it was referring to.

“Identifying unlawful conduct in the digital asset marketplace is a major priority for the CFTC, especially as everyday Americans are increasingly victimized by digital asset scams,” said CFTC enforcement director Ian McGinley. “During the last fiscal year, digital asset cases accounted for almost 50% of the CFTC’s docket, and the majority of whistleblower tips that year were related to digital assets.”

The CFTC filing stated six claimants initially applied to provide information about the digital asset enforcement case. Only one received a percentage of the monetary sanctions from the unnamed company by providing “sufficiently specific, credible, and timely” information. According to the regulator, whistleblowers can receive between 10% and 30% of monetary sanctions collected from a company.

Of the six claimants, three withdrew their applications. Another applied for a whistleblower award for a “purported related action,” and one provided information that “neither supported nor led to the charges in the CFTC Order, nor contributed to the successful resolution of the Covered Action in any way.”

At the time of publication, it was unclear which crypto firm may have been involved in the whistleblower award. The announcement came the day a judge signed off on a $12.7 billion settlement between the FTX exchange, Alameda Research, and the CFTC. The financial regulator was also a party to a $4.3 billion settlement with Binance announced in November 2023.