The Ripple lawsuit is now rounding out its 29th month. Ripple Labs (XRP) has spent over $200M defending itself in court. Cardano and Ethereum founder Charles Hoskinson said it will probably be resolved in June. During a recent “Surprise AMA” interview on YouTube, a viewer asked Hoskinson: “Charles, do you think the Ripple case gets...Read More
In an opinion piece on May 30, the Coinbase CEO wrote that recent crypto industry turbulence “might make it tempting for policymakers to write it off as an unstable asset class.” This is effectively what U.S. regulators have been doing, missing the forest for the trees in treating crypto as a speculative or gambling tool...Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday that ex-Coinbase manager Ishan Wahi and his brother, Nikhil Wahi, agreed to settle charges for insider trading using knowledge from the exchange. The former has been forced to forfeit 10.97 ETH ($20,848.92) and 9,440 USDT, while the latter was made to forfeit $$892,500. The End of...Read More
Crypto exchange Gemini and bankrupt digital asset lender Genesis Global Capital have jointly filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the former’s Earn program. According to a document filed at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday, May 26,...Read More
In response to the SEC’s arguments against its petition for a writ of mandamus, Coinbase said the financial regulator “is talking out of both sides of its mouth, and it is wrong at each end.” The crypto exchange’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal described the mandamus as “the tailor-made remedy for the extraordinary facts.” The...Read More
Speaking on the Unchained podcast on May 23, Dan Berkowitz muddied the regulatory waters even further by stating that crypto assets can be both commodities and securities. The notion goes against the opinion of Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler who asserts they are all securities with investment contracts. Referring to Ethereum, he said...Read More
The latest in a series of scuffles with crypto-related companies, the SEC has now spoken out about Filecoin (FIL), warning Grayscale that these tokens qualify as securities. As a result, the crypto manager – who is part of the Digital Currency Group (DCG) – was asked to retract the Form 10 request submitted for the...Read More
In the latest development in a court case that’s been dragging on for years, Judge Analisa Torres denied the SEC’s request to seal documents pertaining to a speech by Bill Hinman, the director of the agency’s corporate finance division. First Attempts Blocked Last Year The speech in question, which outlines why Hinman does not consider...Read More
Late last month, Coinbase – who had previously been hit with a Wells notice, an informal warning from the SEC usually followed by a lawsuit – asked the courts to force the agency to clearly explain what actions they should take in order to remain compliant. The SEC, on the other hand, remains tight-lipped. Amicable...Read More
In a surprising request filed recently, the SEC asked that the court of New Hampshire downsize the penalties imposed on LBRY, a decentralized content platform best known for its video-sharing platform Odysee. Legitimate Business Expenses Taken Into Account Back in November of 2022, the New Hampshire District Court ordered LBRY to pay $22 million to...Read More
Amidst regulatory tussle, an SEC disclosure revealed an expensive bill for Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s security benefits. The exec was granted security benefits of $6.3 million last year, representing more than triple the amount his security cost Coinbase the previous year. According to the public document, Armstrong’s total compensation for the whole of 2022 was...Read More
Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings has received another subpoena from the SEC. The summons is in relation to its Montana data center, which the regulator claims may have violated securities laws. The company said it was cooperating with the SEC following an initial subpoena on April 10 relating to “transactions with related parties.” “We...Read More
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed Monday that Ripple Labs will spend around $200 million on legal fees to fend off an aggressive SEC lawsuit. But one lawyer and crypto bull explains why the case doesn’t cut the mustard. John Deaton, the founder of Crypto Law and owner of the Deaton Law Firm, recently described the...Read More
Coinbase has called for certain modifications to the proposed rule regarding registered investment advisers’ (RIA) obligations to hold client assets at qualified custodians. Even as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed Coinbase Custody as a “qualified custodian,” the crypto exchange believes the revised RIA rule makes “unwarranted assumptions about custodial practice.” Revisions...Read More
Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of leading American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, believes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is on a lone crusade in the push for regulatory clarity in the country, as the agency’s stance on the matter is different from that of Congress and other federal regulators. During a Monday interview...Read More
A US court has ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission to respond to Coinbase’s complaint about clarity on whether the securities regulator would allow the industry to be regulated using existing frameworks. The latest development emerges amidst escalating tensions between the SEC and Coinbase, with the former ramping up enforcement actions and warnings against crypto...Read More
Brian Armstrong, the chief executive officer of American crypto exchange Coinbase, and the company’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, have responded to a Wells Notice issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) weeks ago in preparation for enforcement action. In a recent YouTube video, the Coinbase executives insisted that the SEC’s notice was...Read More
Major crypto exchange Coinbase has filed a lawsuit against the US SEC and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would compel the regulator to provide an answer to a previous petition by the company. The SEC has adopted a more stringent approach towards the crypto industry in recent times, believing most firms are breaking securities laws without...Read More
Last September, the SEC took the Hydrogen Technology Corporation and its CEO, Michael Ross Kane, to court for the alleged price manipulation of the firm’s proprietary token, HYDRO. Proven Manipulation Of Market Value According to the charges, Kane used services offered by Moonwalkers Trading Ltd, a South African company, without a clear legitimate business purpose...Read More
In a landmark ruling, Hong Kong’s High Court declared crypto as property that can be held in trust. This marks the first time such a decision regarding asset class has been made in the city-state. The ruling, which was handed down in liquidation of a case involving the now-defunct crypto exchange Gatecoin, essentially puts crypto...Read More
The crypto community has left no stone unturned in lambasting the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and, more importantly, its Chief Gary Gensler. The latter’s actions were dissented by members of his own agency. Gensler even received political pushback for his actions. But the SEC boss continued to defend the crackdown on digital assets...Read More
Coinbase is on the brink of legal warfare with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reach long-awaited clarity on how federal securities laws apply to the crypto industry, according to CEO Brian Armstrong. Should the regulator situation not improve, the executive said the exchange would consider relocating away from the United States. Will Coinbase...Read More
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday regarding the agency’s enforcement actions against the crypto industry over the past few months. The chair was pressed for answers on how exactly he differentiates between crypto securities and crypto commodities, and recent difficulties for crypto firms to...Read More
The infamous co-founder of Terraform Labs has reportedly lost his bid against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The latter is now allowed to seek records from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that could shed more details on how the 31-year-old developer managed Luna Foundation Guard and whether he had a hand in...Read More
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler’s crusade against the crypto-asset industry has prompted political pushback. United States Representative Warren Davidson is the latest to retaliate. The Ohio Representative said he is introducing legislation to remove Gensler as the SEC boss in a bid to “correct a long series of abuses.” SEC’s ‘Unconstitutional Overreach’...Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has signaled intent to file another lawsuit against a crypto industry heavyweight – this time being cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex. The exchange, which announced the closure of its US operations last month, received a Wells Notice from the SEC at the time claiming it had violated investor protection laws. Why...Read More
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a civil enforcement action against Rashawn Russell, a former Deutsche Bank investment banker, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The filing alleges that Russell fraudulently solicited retail investors to invest in a digital asset trading fund. He is also being accused...Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is furthering its plans to bring crypto exchanges under its regulatory purview – including DeFi exchanges. The agency has announced that it is reopening an old proposal surrounding consumer protection laws to explicitly put digital asset trading within its scope. Regulating DeFi Per a press release from the SEC...Read More
The ongoing legal dispute between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple has taken another turn as the San Francisco-based blockchain company has countered the SEC’s argument regarding its fair notice defense strategy. According to a document filed on April 13, Ripple insisted that the case cited by the SEC did not...Read More
Tron founder Justin Sun has been issued a summons by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection to a recent lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The billionaire will be subject to “default judgment” if he fails to respond to the summons within 21 days, implying that...Read More
