Both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) are reportedly investigating the now-collapsed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) after depositors to the bank were bailed out by regulators on Sunday. The separate investigations will both examine the stock sales of SVB’s executives moments before the bank collapsed. The agencies’ investigations are still...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an emergency action against the Miami-based financial advisor firm – BKCoin Management LLC – and its Co-Founder Kevin Kang, claiming they have defrauded investors with $100 million via a fraudulent crypto scheme. The agency seeks to impose financial penalties on the organization and a conduct-based injunction against...Read More
According to a March 9 Fox Business report, the next salvo in Uncle Sam’s war on crypto could be a massive class action lawsuit filed on behalf of retail investors against top exchanges. The outlet reported that leading securities lawyer Tom Grady is preparing for potential litigation against America’s largest crypto companies, including Coinbase, Robinhood,...Read More
Grayscale and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have presented their first oral arguments in court regarding the approval/ denial of a Bitcoin a spot ETF product in the United States. During the hearing, judges pressed the SEC on its justification for simultaneously approving multiple Bitcoin Futures ETFs, while denying an equivalent spot ETF. Spot...Read More
At the center of the Grayscale-SEC drama is Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) – the world’s largest Bitcoin fund – which has for two years been trading at a steep discount to the crypto-asset it holds. This has caused much pain in the market. But on the days leading up to the much-anticipated fight, the GBTC...Read More
Kraken has had a tough time with the United States regulatory agencies. Despite the difficult environment, the crypto exchange is planning to roll out its own bank. Marco Santori, Kraken’s chief legal officer, revealed Kraken Bank is very much on track to launch. Kraken Bank According to Kraken Support, the offering will initially be available...Read More
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles made the comments at a court hearing in New York on March 2. The Voyager Digital restructuring plan would involve the sale of just over $1 billion worth of its assets to Binance.US. However, the SEC has opposed the deal claiming that it violates securities laws. When questioned about the...Read More
Robinhood Markets said it received an investigative subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in December. The agency’s move is part of a major crackdown against the digital asset industry after the dramatic collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire last year. The disgraced crypto mogul was recently hit by fresh criminal charges relating...Read More
Gary Gensler’s recent interview with New York Mag (NYMAG) has ruffled feathers across the crypto industry again. The SEC chair reiterated that he considers all crypto assets and all transitions to be subject to U.S. securities laws, aside from spot trading for Bitcoin. Although crypto assets have yet to be officially classified, Gensler said “everything...Read More
Following the most recent crackdown by the US Securities and Exchange Commission against several crypto companies, Jeremy Allaire opined that the agency is not the best fit to oversee stablecoins in particular. He believes these assets are part of the banking sector, thus, they need to be regulated by another watchdog in the States. The...Read More
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a motion objecting to the sale of Voyager Digital’s assets to crypto exchange Binance.US in a $1 billion deal. According to a Wednesday filing submitted at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC alleges that the transaction would...Read More
The first Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting of G20 under India’s presidency, taking place from February 23 to 25 at Bengaluru, is expected to discuss cryptocurrencies, among other issues, Reuters said in a report. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who plays the host, earlier said that the group is exploring if it can...Read More
Dapper Labs will be forced to face a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that the NFT Top Shot NFT Moments on its platform are unregistered securities, following a judge’s refusal to dismiss the case on Wednesday. United States District Court Judge Victor Marrero ruled that such NFTs may plausibly qualify as...Read More
Major blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos Trust Company is holding discussions with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning Binance stablecoin BUSD, according to a report by Reuters. The company earlier received a notice from New York authorities to cease minting BUSD. According to Reuters on Tuesday (Feb. 21, 2022), Charles Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos,...Read More
It’s only been a few days since Kraken, one of the largest exchanges in the U.S., shut down its staking services and paid a $30 million settlement over selling – according to the SEC – unlicensed securities. Despite compliance with regulators and a commitment to proof of reserves, both Kraken and Binance have been under...Read More
According to the latest edition of CoinShares’ weekly report, outflows in digital asset investment products reached $32 million last week, a level not seen since late December 2022. The sentiment could be attributed to exchange-traded product (ETP) investors being less optimistic about recent regulatory pressures in the US relative to the wider market. Bitcoin Bears...Read More
On February 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce with illegally promoting the EMAX token on his social media accounts. The EMAX token was offered and sold by EthereumMax. According to the complaint, Pierce has agreed to pay a penalty of $1,115,000, plus approximately $240,000 in disgorgement and...Read More
Shortly after legally going after Do Kwon and Terraform Labs, the US Securities and Exchange Commission asserted that the former cashed out 10,000 bitcoin after his brainchild collapsed. Kwon has been on the run ever since the crash last year, reportedly currently hiding in Serbia. As reported by Bloomberg, the latest allegations from the US...Read More
On February 16th, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Terraform Labs, the Singapore-based company behind the creation of LUNA and UST – native tokens of the Terra ecosystem – and its co-founder Do Kwon of promoting a multi-billion dollar fraud by offering and selling unregistered securities through the use of crypto assets. The...Read More
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
