FTX and its sister firm Alameda faced the largest crypto-related enforcement by US regulators, with a staggering $12.7 billion in combined settlement charges. According to CoinGecko’s findings, this amount tops the list of penalties imposed on cryptocurrency companies, highlighting the regulatory focus on the now-bankrupt exchange. Meanwhile, Binance’s $4 billion settlement is notable as the...Read More
Three crypto companies and 15 individuals have been charged with extensive fraud and market manipulation. This follows an unprecedented investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which involved creating a new digital token to help expose criminal activity in the sector. Federal prosecutors in Boston announced charges against Gotbit, ZM Quant, and CLS...Read More
Bitnomial has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its five commissioners, accusing the agency of overextending its jurisdiction. The company’s case disputes the SEC’s classification of XRP as a security, which the agency claims qualifies as an investment contract under the Securities Exchange Act. The Case Details The Chicago-based...Read More
The Bitcoin (BTC) rewards app Fold has submitted its S-4 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), initiating the process for an initial public offering (IPO). The filing follows an announcement in July that it plans to go public through a merger with FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. Details of the Merger The filing...Read More
Robinhood’s Chief Legal Officer, Dan Gallagher, is emerging as a leading contender to head the SEC if Donald Trump wins the presidency. “He’d be a natural choice,” one former senior SEC official told Politico, which cited a dozen former top regulators, lobbyists, and securities lawyers. Talkshow host Steven Steele commented that this would be huge...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Director of Enforcement, Gurbir Grewal, has announced his resignation, effective October 11, 2024. His sudden exit comes at a critical moment for the regulator, as it is filing an appeal in its high-profile case against Ripple. Grewal Leaving as SEC Appeals Ripple Decision The departure was announced in...Read More
This week, Bitwise registered a trust entity called “XRP ETF” in Delaware. The following day, the asset manager filed an S-1 form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a necessary step for companies aiming to launch a new security and list it on a public stock exchange. As a result, the optimism surrounding a...Read More
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unveiled charges against two crypto companies, TrueCoin and TrustToken, for their fraudulent stablecoin investment program and unregistered offer and sale of securities. According to a press release by the agency, the SEC filed the complaint at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and...Read More
Gary Gensler, the chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), believes there have been significant changes in the financial market requiring upgraded definitions of exchanges and alternative trading platforms. During the 10th Annual U.S. Treasury Market Conference on September 26, Gensler highlighted the shifts in the capital markets since the SEC first...Read More
On Sept. 24, Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer took aim at Gary Gensler over his “disastrous record” as Chairman of the SEC. The grilling came during a House Financial Services Committee congressional hearing. Emmer accused Gensler of expecting political allegiance from SEC staff, including civil servants; however, the SEC chair denied this claim despite email evidence to...Read More
A group of Republican lawmakers, headed by Rep. Patrick McHenry and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, have raised concerns over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approach to regulating crypto custody. In a letter addressed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the lawmakers demanded the agency “rescind” its Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121). Critique of SAB...Read More
A Texas federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by blockchain development company Consensys against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Chair, Gary Gensler, along with other commissioners. The lawsuit revolved around the SEC’s investigations into Ethereum (ETH) and its issuance of a Wells Notice regarding MetaMask, a cryptocurrency wallet developed by...Read More
Terraform Labs, the company behind TerraUSD (UST) and Luna, has secured court approval to wind down operations in bankruptcy after settling with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to a Reuters report, the wind-down plan was approved by US Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon, who called it a “welcome alternative” to further litigation...Read More
On Sept. 17, Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer wrote with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry to SEC Chair Gary Gensler requesting clarity on whether crypto airdrops are securities transactions. “Under Chairman Gensler’s tenure, the SEC has put its thumb on the scale and prevented Americans from shaping the next iteration of the internet,” he...Read More
Massachusetts Republican Senate candidate John Deaton has indicated his intention to hold the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accountable for its role in wiping out $15 billion from XRP retail investors. In a September 16 interview on the “Good Morning Crypto Show,” the lawyer made it clear that he’s ready to continue his battle...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ramped up its enforcement actions against the cryptocurrency sector in 2024, imposing nearly $4.7 billion in fines. This figure represents a 3,018% increase from the $150.3 million in fines issued in 2023. Record Breaking Settlement According to a report from Social Capital Markets, 2024’s figures are largely...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has seemingly tracked back on previous statements suggesting that crypto assets themselves are securities. This retraction comes amid the agency’s ongoing legal case against Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. SEC “Regrets” Confusion Caused by Wording Attention to the SEC’s shift was drawn by...Read More
Within the next six months, the United States arm of the financial services company, eToro, would cease trading almost all crypto assets on its platform due to a new order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to a press release from the SEC, eToro has violated federal securities laws since at least 2020....Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has levied another set of charges against Galois Capital – a crypto-focused advisory firm that custodied client assets at FTX. For its actions, Galois agreed to pay a civil penalty of $225,000, which will be distributed to harmed investors of the fund. Charged For Losing Money In FTX Per...Read More
The Chief Legal Officer at Ripple Stuart Alderoty has publicly criticized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its use of the phrase “crypto asset security.” In a post published on his official X account, the lawyer argued that the term is a made-up concept that has no legitimate grounding. Lawyer, Court, Call Out...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has brought charges against two brothers for running a $60 million Ponzi scheme. Notably, the complaint was filed on August 26 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta. SEC Freezes Assets in Scam According to the regulator’s filing, Jonathan Adam and...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has made it its mission to target various cryptocurrency platforms, albeit with questionable success so far. Next on the list is the NFT platform OpenSea, whose CEO went on to X to express the team’s disappointment in the regulator’s move. Devin Finzer, OpenSea’s chief exec, tweeted that the company...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has contested Hex founder Richard Heart’s attempt to dismiss its $1 billion securities fraud lawsuit, asserting its jurisdiction over the case. In its opposition brief, filed in a New York federal court on August 22 but dated July 8, the SEC contended that Heart’s motion to dismiss fails to...Read More
Binance plans to hire 1,000 new employees this year, with a substantial focus on compliance roles. A large portion of these hires is specifically aimed at expanding the company’s compliance team from its current 500 members to 700 by the end of 2024. CEO Richard Teng, who is currently in the US for discussions with...Read More
There are growing rumors in Washington that Vice President Kamala Harris may nominate SEC Chair Gary Gensler as Treasury Secretary if she wins at the polls in November. Those rumors corroborate what top Republicans have also told the Washington Reporter on the record it reported on Aug. 19. Speaking to the outlet, Minnesota representative Tom...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against NovaTech Ltd. and its principals, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, for allegedly organizing a crypto fraud that defrauded over 200,000 investors worldwide, including many within the Haitian-American community. The SEC’s complaint details that NovaTech, under the leadership of the Petions, was promoted as a multi-level...Read More
Coinbase submitted its third comment letter highlighting significant flaws in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) cost-benefit analysis of the proposed rule. The letter argued that the agency has failed to assess the rule’s economic impact on efficiency, competition, and capital formation. Despite acknowledging a lack of critical information on decentralized exchange (DEX) operations...Read More
The long-awaited conclusion to the settlements phase of the trial passed with a much smaller fine than the SEC had requested. U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) decided on a sum just a little over $125 million— instead of the $2 billion fine the SEC wanted. Investors...Read More
XRP has decoupled from the broader crypto market, outperforming all top assets in terms of daily gains. While the rest of the market struggles, XRP experienced a sharp price increase of nearly 20% in the past day, reaching $0.64 on Thursday before slightly retracing to $0.61. As a result of the continued uptrend, XRP has...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a New York court to reject Coinbase’s subpoena, which seeks to compel the agency to produce documents related to crypto assets. The SEC described them as covering “essentially all documents that in any way relate to crypto assets.” SEC Opposes Coinbase’s Subpoena Request The motion filed on...Read More
