Michael Hiltzik: The crypto scam is on life support. Why are some lawmakers trying to give it CPR?

For crypto, November has been the cruelest month.

Things got started with a blast Nov. 2, when scam artist Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven fraud and conspiracy counts related to his management of the once-upward scuttling crypto exchange FTX.

Matters didn't get any better after that. On Nov. 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the crypto trading platform Kraken with a raft of legal violations.

The SEC alleges that Kraken has been operating simultaneously as a crypto "broker, dealer, exchange, and clearing agency," which present potential conflicts of interest that work against customers' interests.

One day after that, the government dropped a nuclear bomb on the asset class. The Treasury, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Department of Justice announced a $4-billion settlement of money laundering charges against Binance, the largest crypto platform still standing after the collapse of FTX.

(Interestingly, the one agency not participating in the settlement is the SEC, which makes it seem that its enforcers are intent on pursuing their own case against Binance.)

As part of the deal, Binance agreed to cease doing business in the U.S.