Examining How Speculative Investment in Cryptocurrency and NFTs can Lead to White Collar Crimes

• In Event: Emerging Issues in Corporate and White-Collar Crime Research

Abstract

In the last decade, Cryptocurrencies have become exponentially popular as speculative investments, despite many possessing little understanding on how they function. In fact, one of the core features of any cryptocurrency is that it cannot be controlled or formally regulated by any governmental body or authority. These traits, combined with the recent production of NFT's (Non Fungible Tokens), have potentially created new avenues for digital fraud and theft, plagiarism, forged art, spam, phishing, pump-and-dump and pyramid schemes, and more. This paper will examine the buying, selling, and marketing, of cryptocurrency and NFT's as well as the culture of those who participate in this new digital market. We will pay particular attention to how this unregulated marketplace may generate crime opportunities through the lens of criminological theory and context.

Authors

• Brandon Christopher Dulisse, University of Tampa

• Nathan T. Connealy, University of Tampa

• Matthew Logan, Texas State University