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Bitfinex customers have also reportedly had no issues accessing their funds due to any restrictions imposed by legal action. A spokesperson for the company said: “Bitfinex believes that
these allegations are untrue and Bitfinex customers and operations are unaffected by false rumours.” Polish prosecutors seized 1.27billion Polish zlotys last week from two bank accounts
belonging to the two companies suspected of being implicated in the money laundering scheme, one of which was supposedly linked to Bitfinex. One of the companies has also been accused of
defrauding the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for over €400,000 during the construction of the Belgian embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. No charges have currently been filed,
but reports suggest that Polish prosecutors are coordinating with international law enforcement agencies Europe and Interpol due to the international nature of the alleged crimes. Bitfinex,
along with its sister company Tether, were both subpoenaed by US regulators in December for reasons which have never been disclosed. The exchange then resorted to legal action in order to
protect its reputation, but this amounted to nothing after the action was either dropped or never fully commenced. In light of increasing cases of cryptocurrency fraud, international
governments are starting to implement tougher regulations. South Korea introduced a raft of measures in January aimed at regulating Bitcoin and similar currencies such as Ripple and
Ethereum. A ban on anonymous trading was implemented by the Asian power in a bid to crack down on all possible criminal activities the secret nature of trading Bitcoin allowed. India’s
government has said it does not consider cryptocurrencies to be legal tender and will try to phase out payments using the online money. Meanwhile, Japan is also expected to see an increase
in regulation following a number of high profile hacking cases. Takashi Shiono, an economist at Credit Suisse in Tokyo, said: “Regulators in Japan are usually conservative and not first
movers. “The government wants to facilitate fintech through cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. “We’ll likely see stronger regulations, but not a ban.”