Bitcoiner Warns Users Involved In P2P Transfers

Mark Alexander Hopkins, also known as Doctor Bitcoin or Rizzn on Twitter, is facing 6 to 15 months at a federal correctional institution in Texas as he pled guilty to allegedly running a crypto business without a license. Hopkins warned his social media followers that "transacting Bitcoin p2p is a federal crime."

According to a Sunday Twitter post from Hopkins, who is the Vice President at Geosyn Mining, a Bitcoin mining firm, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) used a 2019 interpretation of a law — 18 U.S.C. 1960 — to charge him.

The FinCEN charged Hopkins with illicitly operating a "money transmitting business" after he engaged in P2P or OTC crypto trades.

"Did you know that transacting Bitcoin p2p is a federal crime punishable with up to five years imprisonment? I didn't either. 18 USC 1960, as interpreted by FinCEN back in the middle of 2019, says you must register federally to do so," Hopkins said in a tweet.

P2P trades are those which are initiated between a crypto buyer and a seller without the mediation of a crypto exchange or other authority which has been licensed to do so.

"This means that any time anyone with a crypto trades p2p (i.e., not with an exchange), they're legally liable under this statute as it's currently interpreted," Hopkins said, adding, "In practice, this is a catch-all law. I was originally suspected of being a kingpin in this particular scam, and when it was clear I was not, they were able to easily build a case that I had not registered federally before selling my bitcoins."

Hopkins noted that in October 2019, 15 armed men came to his house accusing him to be involved in the fraud implemented by one of his clients. "I wasn't able to find a crypto-fluent attorney after I was raided in 2020 [...] I was told that if I plead to the 18 USC 1960 charge, any actions against my family would be dropped," he added.