CFPB Monitoring Crypto-Gaming Transactions for Consumer Protection

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is monitoring financial transactions in online gaming and virtual worlds as part of its mandate to protect consumers.

The CFPB sees in-game currencies and assets as comparable to banking and payment services if they are used to exchange goods/services or enable peer-to-peer transfers.

Crypto-gaming has seen growth recently, with gaming tokens surpassing $26.9 billion market cap in Q1 2024, per CoinGecko.

The CFPB highlighted issues like scams, theft, and lack of user recourse for lost gaming assets as areas of concern.

The report examined games like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Sandbox, and gaming tokens, as well as DeFi lending platforms allowing loans against gaming NFTs.