Ponzi Schemes in the FinTech World: Emerging Threat for the Economic Globalization Andrii Cherniak 1 , Oleksandr Dudorov 2 , Dmitriy Kamensky 3(B ) , Igor Fedun 4 , and Yevgen Buryak 5 1 National Academy of Security Service of Ukraine, 22 Mykhailo Maksymovych Street, Kyiv 03022, Ukraine 2 Department of Criminal Law Policy and Criminal Law of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Law, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 60 Volodymyrska Street, Kyiv 01033, Ukraine 3 Department of Law, Berdyansk State Pedagogical University, 66 Zhukovskoho Street, Zaporizhzhya 69600, Ukraine dm.kamensky@gmail.com 4 Department of World Economy, State University of Trade and Economics, 19 Kyoto Street, Kyiv 02156, Ukraine 5 National Academy of Security Service of Ukraine, 22 Mykhailo Maksymovych Street, Kyiv 03022, Ukraine Abstract. The paper provides overview of the financial technologies (FinTech) sector and addresses some legal vulnerabilities of this emerging segment of the global economy. Complicated nature of the FinTech sector is explained – from mobile payment applications to complex blockchain networks containing encrypted transactions. Aside from numerous advantages of the FinTech services, issues related to fraudulent practices in this sector of economy are discussed at length. In particular, it is argued, with reference to the two major Ponzi schemes of the past, that financial pyramids are types of illegal enterprises, which can infil- trate legitimate financial technology industries. Through the lenses of the relevant Ukrainian law and practice, the complicated nature of illegal financial pyramids, in particular the absence of meaningful definition of this type of fraud, propos- als are elaborated on how to improve national financial market regulation. Based on research findings, the key idea of the research is formulated: in some cases there is a potential link between modern financial technologies and fraudulent schemes related to financial pyramids. Such disturbing realities should trigger more aggressive legal response by national lawmakers and regulators. Keywords: FinTech · ponzi scheme · fraud · economy · cryptocurrency · crime · globalization 1 Formulation of the Research Problem The modern phenomenon of economic globalization directly affects development of law in world jurisdictions and, in particular, the model of combating white-collar crime. Because of important changes in economic, social, political and other spheres in different © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 B. Alareeni and A. Hamdan (Eds.): ICBT 2023, LNNS 927, pp. 435–445, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54009-7_40