U.S. Department of Justice May Reform Crypto Payout Rules for Victims
Victims of crypto fraud may soon see fairer compensation, as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) rethinks how reimbursements work. Current rules tie payouts to the original value of the stolen crypto—not its worth today.
That approach frustrates many, especially those who lost funds in platforms like FTX, Celsius, Voyager, and BlockFi. Some victims watched their claims get repaid at 2022 market prices, while the actual value of their coins has skyrocketed since then.
Bitcoin traded around $17,000 during FTX’s collapse in late 2022. By early 2025, prices exploded above $100,000. Even so, most claimants got reimbursed in fiat using the much lower 2022 values.
This gap between loss and payout sparked outrage. The DOJ says current laws lock reimbursements to the dollar value at the time of fraud, which denies victims any benefit from future price gains.
In response, the DOJ assigned two teams—the Office of Legal Policy and Office of Legislative Affairs—to review and recommend legal and regulatory updates.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
