Following a tumultuous start to April, the crypto market found itself in a sea of red. As an outlier to this trend, Litecoin stood out among the top 100 assets as it shows bullish movement, owing partly to its classification as a commodity by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Litecoin – formerly part of...Read More
On Feb. 6, House Financial Services and Agriculture Committee leaders sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the lack of regulation in the spot market for digital assets that are not securities. The letter was sent from Patrick McHenry, Glenn Thompson, French Hill, and Dusty Johnson, all chairmen of various House committees. They...Read More
In its recent report, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) underscored a fundamental issue within DeFi systems, pointing to the absence of clear lines of responsibility and accountability intentionally overlooked by certain industry structures. The report emphasized the substantial risks that DeFi systems pose to consumers, investors, financial stability, market integrity, and the fight against...Read More
With the United States struggling to bring about regulatory clarity for the crypto space, the ongoing discord between two pivotal watchdogs sparks concerns about potential implications. The head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, has once again indicated that most crypto assets are considered commodities according to existing laws. He also acknowledged...Read More
Following the conclusion of the extensive investigation and pursuit of cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance, reports suggest that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) now intends to pursue other platforms that violate trading laws. Despite experiencing a significant unforeseen event, the cryptocurrency industry has effectively mitigated the impact and is now observing signs of price...Read More
The United States has persistently stumbled in delivering clear regulatory guidance for digital assets. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) presides over instruments and assets deemed as securities, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates the trading of derivatives on commodities. This landscape leaves a regulatory gap for digital assets that defy the categorization...Read More
The co-founders of Opyn, a prominent DeFi options protocol, have announced their departure from the company and the crypto industry. This decision comes in the wake of charges filed against Opyn by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in September. Opyn’s Co-founders Announce Departure from Crypto Opyn co-founders CEO Zubin Koticha and Alexis Gauba recently...Read More
Crypto returned to the limelight of financial markets in 2023 – but for a reason less flattering than skyrocketing crypto prices. A new report from the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) shows that crypto-related charges accounted for over half of the agency’s total enforcement actions this year. Cracking Down on Crypto In its 2023...Read More
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a complaint against former CEO of Voyager Digital, Stephen Ehrlich, alleging that the ex-chief committed fraud and failed to register the bankrupt crypto lender with the agency. In a related development, another US regulatory body, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced that it reached a settlement...Read More
The US commodities regulator has targeted yet another crypto exchange for allegedly running a “fraudulent” digital asset commodity scheme, The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Pennsylvania-headquartered Mosaic Exchange Limited, along with its owner and Chief Executive Officer Sean...Read More
Coinbase, one of the world leaders in crypto services, is currently battling accusations of improper conduct in U.S. courts. The platform’s legal representatives have denied any wrongdoing, even going so far as to request the dismissal of the case. In spite of the accusations, Coinbase – and the platform’s CEO, Brian Armstrong – are generally...Read More
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it had initiated and successfully settled legal actions against the Opyn, ZeroEx, and Deridex platforms. The three decentralized finance protocols allegedly failed to register various derivatives trading offerings. As stated in the official press release, Deridex and Opyn faced allegations of not registering as a swap execution...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is leaving securities enforcement up to the CFTC when it comes to cryptocurrency. While the commission rushes ahead of Congress to write the entire federal crypto policy by lawsuit, the CFTC is going for more clear-cut violations. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission took the lead late last week and...Read More
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said earlier this week that it had filed a complaint against four individuals and their unincorporated entity for operating a fraudulent project involving precious metals and digital assets. The alleged scam had over 14,000 customers at one point. The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the...Read More
A Tennessee couple was charged for operating a $6 million digital assets commodity pool scheme by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) this week. The United States derivatives market regulator charged the owners of a Clarksville real estate company, Michael and Amanda Griffis, for allegedly defrauding more than 100 people across the country. The couple...Read More
Several days ago, Binance’s legal team announced they will be pursuing the dismissal of the CFTC’s court case against them, mirroring similar actions by Coinbase and Bittrex. Binance’s hefty plea has now been filed and is largely based on refutations of the CFTC’s jurisdiction since neither the exchange nor its CEO reside or are headquartered...Read More
Binance’s legal team filed a motion in an Illinois district court yesterday evening, notifying the judge presiding over the case that two separate requests to dismiss charges against Binance and CZ will be served on the 27th of July. Joint Motion, Along With One for Former Compliance Officer Although a single joint motion will be...Read More
Three days after Celsius imploded on the 13th of July 2022, the CFTC, swiftly followed by the SEC, launched separate investigations into the crypto platform’s business practices. The company was also investigated – and in some cases sued – separately by local authorities in Vermont, New York, and elsewhere. I’m suing the former CEO of...Read More
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sued five individuals for falsely promoting bitcoin and crypto trading services, thereby swindling unsuspecting investors. The defendants in the case, according to the CFTC, mainly targeted Spanish-speaking users. Majority of Victims Were From Spanish-speaking Communities The CFTC alleged that five people — David Carmona, Juan Arellano Para, Moses...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
A South African fugitive who ran an unregistered commodity pool to defraud unsuspecting victims of foreign exchange and bitcoin has been ordered to pay over $3 billion in restitution and civil monetary penalty. The judgment marks the largest monetary penalty ever recorded in a CFTC fraud case involving bitcoin. CFTC’s Biggest Bitcoin Fraudulent Case A...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
America’s war on crypto has targeted Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. In late March, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission unleashed a barrage of accusations against Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao. Since then, the firm’s market share has plunged as much as 16%, according to recent research. On April 3, Kaiko research director Clara Medalie...Read More
The crypto analytics provider – Santiment – revealed that almost 90% of Ethereum’s supply is currently stored in self-custody addresses. The last time the figure was so high was in 2015, shortly after the protocol’s native token saw the light of day. The new data comes at a time when investors seem to have lost...Read More
Hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto was withdrawn from Binance shortly after the exchange was slapped with civil charges by US regulators on Monday, on-chain data shows. According to Nansen, the exchange has experienced $400 million in net outflows over the past 24 hours alone. By comparison, Binance has undergone over $2 billion in...Read More
A US Federal regulatory agency just filed a lawsuit against Binance – the world’s largest crypto exchange – for a sweeping range of regulatory violations, spooking Bitcoin back down to $27,000. Here’s what the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) believes the company and its CEO, Changepeng Zhao (CZ), are guilty of. Binance’s Violations According...Read More
Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has been facing regulatory concerns from authorities around the world. The exchange has been accused of violating a number of regulatory requirements, including anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) rules. Recently, Binance has been sued by the US CFTC for alleged derivatives trading violations. Binance Faces Legal...Read More
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the addition of key industry members to the newly constituted Technology Advisory Committee (TAC). The official press release stated that the agency has appointed White House official Carole House as the new chair, while blockchain analysis company TRM Labs’ Ari Redboard has been onboarded as the vice chair...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
The non-profit organization – Stellar Development Foundation – announced joining a new advisory committee of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). According to the firm’s statement, SDF will be one of the four crypto-focused organizations at the Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), which is one of the five active Advisory Committees overseen by...Read More
