The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just voted to propose new amendments affecting rules around crypto asset custody in the United States – and commissioner Hester Peirce (aka “Crypto Mom”) is not a fan. Peirce believes the proposed rules could leave crypto investors more vulnerable to theft and fraud, contrary to their intent. Crypto Mom’s...Read More
Yesterday, the SEC proposed new rules for crypto companies acting as qualified custodians for institutional funds. The push for this change in legislation is due to the recent failures of crypto platforms to safeguard users’ assets from both cyberattacks and bankruptcy. The SEC argues that the reckless financial behavior exhibited by FTX, Celsius, and the...Read More
Following the SEC crackdown on Kraken last week and its subsequent threat of action against BUSD issuer Paxos, rumors have been flying about Circle being next. Crypto Twitter was awash with unfounded claims that Circle had been issued a Wells notice by the SEC. A Wells notice is a threat of legal action giving the...Read More
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to propose new rules that would toughen the requirements for cryptocurrency firms to become qualified custodians for institutional fund managers. Although the draft proposal will be submitted on Wednesday, the affected area remains unclear, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Crypto Firms to Face...Read More
United States District Judge Kevin Castel has approved the Justice Department’s request to stay the civil lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. According to a Reuters report, prosecutors believe delaying the...Read More
Jacob Blish, the head of business development at Lido DAO, the decentralized autonomous organization behind the largest liquid staking protocol, believes the recent SEC crackdown on crypto staking services could cause new challenges for decentralized finance (DeFi). According to a Bloomberg report, Blish opined that the state of crypto staking in the U.S. depends on...Read More
The US-based blockchain infrastructure platform – Paxos Trust Company – will stop the issuance of new Binance stablecoins (BUSD) from February 21. Despite this, the firm said it has a “strong corporate balance sheet” and vowed to continue servicing new and existing clients. Ending the Relationship With Binance As directed by the New York State...Read More
According to reports on Feb. 12 citing ‘people familiar with the matter,’ the SEC plans to take action against Paxos over the Binance stablecoin, BUSD. The WSJ report stated that the financial regulator issued a letter to Paxos, known as a Wells notice, to inform it of possible enforcement action. The Wells notice enables companies...Read More
All eyes in the crypto community have been on the SEC and its decision to pursue certain crypto staking offerings in the States. After Kraken, many believe Coinbase will be next to have to settle with the regulator, which is why the largest US-based exchange decided to address the matter. Our Products Are Not Securities:...Read More
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of the blockchain payment company that fights the US SEC in court over the status of XRP, believes there’s a lot of positive news in terms of crypto adoption worldwide. He made these comments following the recent crackdown from the Securities and Exchange Commission against Kraken and its crypto staking services....Read More
Following the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s crackdown against Kraken’s staking service on Thursday, one of its members is railing against her agency’s decision. Hester Peirce – aka ‘Crypto Mom’ – issued a statement on Wednesday arguing that the SEC’s enforcement action is neither “efficient nor fair,” and that exchanges were never given a realistic...Read More
On Feb. 9, Gary Gensler and his SEC took aim at Kraken and its staking-as-a-service products. The regulator claims that the U.S. crypto exchange is offering unregistered securities through its staking services. Consequently, Kraken suspended staking-as-a-service, and crypto markets have slumped. On Feb. 10, popular analyst and trader Alex Krüger put a positive spin on...Read More
Kraken’s generated trading volume for the past 24 hours increased by almost 15%. The surge contrasts with the company’s issues prompted by the recent SEC investigation and the consecutive termination of staking services. Data extracted from CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko revealed that Kraken’s 24h trading volume stands at around $757 million, or a 14% increase. Based on numerous factors,...Read More
Bitcoin fell back to $22,000 on Thursday shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) laid charges against Kraken for the unregistered offering of its staking services. Kraken agreed to halt the service and pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties, without admitting to or denying any wrongdoing. According to the SEC’s...Read More
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is probing major American crypto exchange Kraken over its unregistered securities offerings to U.S. investors. The investigation has gotten to an advanced stage, and Kraken will likely settle with the SEC in the coming days, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Kraken Under Scrutiny...Read More
On Feb. 9, Brian Armstrong cautioned that they were hearing rumors that the SEC would like to “get rid of crypto staking in the U.S. for retail customers.” He said he hopes that is not the case as “I believe it would be a terrible path for the U.S. if that was allowed to happen.”...Read More
As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues vying for regulatory presence over the crypto market, a high-profile industry lawsuit looks poised to answer more questions about how far its authority should reach. Lawyers defending Ishan Wahi – a former Coinbase manager accused of insider trading – are challenging the SEC’s claim that a list...Read More
A New Hampshire district court judge has clarified that a security injunction ruled earlier in the legal battle between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and decentralized content-sharing and publishing platform LBRY applied only to direct sales of the project’s tokens. The ruling came during an appeal hearing on January 30, 2023, settling...Read More
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is targeting investment advisors for potentially offering digital asset custody to its clients without meeting proper criteria. Citing three unnamed sources, Reuters reported that the Commission is probing advisers’ efforts to follow the rules around custody of clients’ digital assets after the implosion of FTX. The investigation...Read More
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected the joint effort of Ark Investment Management and 21Shares to list a spot Bitcoin ETF on the Cboe BZX Exchange. The agency dismissed another application filed by the partners in the spring of 2022. As indicated in a recent filing, the American financial regulator did not...Read More
Mango Markets’ exploiter Avraham Eisenberg was hit with a lawsuit by Mango Labs, the company behind the DeFi protocol, for $47 million in damages. The Wednesday filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that Eisenberg executed a malicious attack on Mango Markets by manipulating the native token,...Read More
Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, has blamed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its failed plans to go public. According to a new report by FT, the regulatory agency failed to sign off on the $9 billion deal. This comes a month after its CEO Jeremy Allaire revealed the termination of...Read More
The world’s largest digital asset manager – Grayscale – will reportedly present its arguments in court regarding the potential launch of a Bitcoin ETF in the US on March 7. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will argue against this. The Lawsuit is Approaching Grayscale has displayed its intentions to introduce an exchange-traded...Read More
The long, drawn-out battle between fintech firm Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could be coming to a conclusion, according to the company CEO. Speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, Garlinghouse said that the judges are unlikely to rush a resolution, adding: “We’re optimistic that...Read More
Victims of the Ponzi scheme BitConnect may finally find some respite. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California ordered over $17 million in restitution to be distributed to nearly 800 victims from over 40 different countries due to their investment losses in BitConnect, which defrauded thousands of investors across the world....Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a complaint against Genesis Global Capital and Gemini Trust Company for allegedly selling unregistered securities to retail investors in the US. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, plus front-end interest and civil penalties. Both companies raised billions of dollars by offering and...Read More
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly launched an investigation against the distressed cryptocurrency platform Zipmex. The watchdog will inspect whether the latter breached some domestic rules when offering digital asset services and products. More Problems for Zipmex According to a Bloomberg coverage, the top financial regulator of Thailand will probe the bankrupt Zipmex for...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Neil Chandran and seven other individuals and entities for orchestrating the fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme called CoinDeal. The suspects allegedly defrauded investors with around $45 million over the years and used the money to buy real estate, cars, and a boat. Halting the Crime The SEC accused Neil Chandran,...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly asked some FTX investors whether they conducted proper research on the cryptocurrency exchange before becoming its clients. Recall that the platform (considered among the giants in its field) crashed in November, causing multi-billion losses and shaking the entire market to its core. As reported by Reuters, the...Read More
In a filing on Jan. 4, the financial regulator submitted a limited objection and reservation of rights. The SEC is pushing back on Binance’s U.S. division’s plan to buy bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital in a deal valued at around $1 billion. According to the agency, the purchase agreement does not include sufficient detail about...Read More
