As it turns out, no, you can't just run an unlicensed Bitcoin money exchange
Credit:
The Register
A 21 year old man from Mexico is facing more than two-dozen money laundering charges in the US for running an unlicensed Bitcoin exchange.
Jacob Burrell Campos was said to have shifted nearly $1m in funds by both buying and selling Bitcoins to people around the world. Campos, who lives in Mexico's Baja California state, was born in San Diego and was arrested when he tried to enter the US at the Otay Mesa crossing.
According to his indictment [PDF] unsealed this weekend, Campos used a bank in San Diego to convert cash into Bitcoins on the Coinbase and Bitfinex exchanges between 2015 and 2017. Prosecutors say Campos was acting as a go-between for other people, moving cash into Bitcoin and taking a 5 per cent cut in the process.
