Law
3AC bankruptcy process faces challenges amid unknown whereabouts of founders
Liquidators for Three Arrows Capital (3AC) will have to present further documents in order to be granted permission to subpoena the now-bankrupt crypto hedge fund’s founders through Twitter, according to a decision from Judge Martin Glenn during a virtual hearing for the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court on Dec. 2. Lawyers representing the liquidators claimed that Zhu Su and Kyle Davies, co-founders of the hedge fund, have repeatedly failed to engage with liquidators over the recent months. “A communication protocol was agreed between the liquidators and founders but has not yielded satisfactory cooperation,” according to a hearing presentation. The liquidators claimed that the founders of the company are located in Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, where it is difficult...
South Korean judge dismisses arrest warrants for Terra co-founder Do Kwon’s former associates
A judge with the Seoul Southern District Court has reportedly set aside arrest warrants for Terra co-founder Shin Hyun-seong along with those of 3 Terra investors and 4 developers. According to an Dec. 3 report from South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, Judge Hong Jin-Pyo said there was little risk of Shin or the Terra associates destroying evidence related to the case against the crypto firm, and dismissed warrants that the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office issued on Nov. 29. The report added that Terra co-founder Do Kwon, also facing legal action in South Korea for his role in the firm’s collapse, was unlikely to return to the country. “The Seoul Southern District Court’s ruling on Dec. 3rd to reject South Korean prosecutors’ detention warrant requests for former Terraform Labs empl...
Canada crypto regulation: Bitcoin ETFs, strict licensing and a digital dollar
In October, Toronto-based Coinsquare became the first crypto trading business to get dealer registration from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). That means a lot as now Coinsquare investors’ funds enjoy the security of the Canadian Investment Protection Fund in the event of insolvency, while the exchange is required to report its financial standing regularly. This news reminds us about the peculiarities of Canadian regulation of crypto. While the country still holds a rather tight process of licensing the virtual asset providers, it outpaces the neighboring United States in its experiments with crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), pension funds’ investments and central bank digital currency (CBDC) efforts. An era of restricted dealers Coinsquare, which...
SEC chair’s crypto oversight strategy in question as ecosystems collapse
While regulations are often aimed at protecting citizens from bad actors, the effectiveness of crypto regulations in the United States is in question owing to the colossal fall of major exchanges and ecosystems over the past year — FTX, Celsius, Voyager, and Terra (LUNA). Congressman Tom Emmer showed concerns about the oversight strategy implemented by Gary Gensler, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the crypto ecosystem. Emmer has been vocal against Gensler’s “indiscriminate and inconsistent approach” toward crypto oversight. On March 16, the Congressman revealed being approached by numerous crypto and blockchain firms that believed Gensler’s reporting requests to be overburdensome and stifling innovation. We are even more concerned now as we’ve...
SBF’s lawyers terminate FTX representation due to conflicts of interest
Paul, Weiss, the law firm backing FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) amid bankruptcy, renounced representing the entrepreneur, citing a conflict of interest. The decision to withdraw from representation after SBF’s tweets were found to disrupt the law firm’s reorganization efforts. Starting Nov. 14, SBF published a series of tweets that amassed extensive attention across Crypto Twitter. The move, however, sparked speculations that the cryptic tweets were used to distract bots from noticing concurrently deleted tweets. While no ill-intent could be concluded, Paul, Weiss attorney Martin Flumenbaum believed that SBF’s “incessant and disruptive tweeting” was negatively impacting the reorganization efforts: “We informed Mr. Bankman-Fried several days ago, after the filing of the FTX bankruptcy, th...
Could Hong Kong really become China’s proxy in crypto?
With its partial autonomy, the island city of Hong Kong has traditionally served as “a gate to China” — the local trade center, backed by transparent English-style common law and an openly pro-business government strategy. Could the harbor, home to seven million inhabitants, inherit this role in relation to the crypto industry, becoming a proxy for mainland China’s experiments with crypto? An impulse to such questioning was given by Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of crypto derivatives giant BitMEX in his Oct. 26 blog post. Hayes believes the Hong Kong government’s announcement about introducing a bill to regulate crypto to be a sign that China is trying to ease its way back into the market. The opinion was immediately replicated in a range of industrial and mainstream media. What happe...
Core Scientific may consider bankruptcy following uncertain financial condition: Report
Bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific is reportedly considering a potential bankruptcy amid a group of its convertible bondholders consulting restructuring lawyers. According to a Nov. 1 report from Bloomberg Law, the Core Scientific bondholders worked with legal firm Paul Hastings following a United States Securities and Exchange Commission filing suggesting financial distress. The Oct. 26 filing indicated that the mining company was unable to meet its financial obligations in late October and early November, citing the low price of Bitcoin (BTC), rising costs of electricity, an increase in the global BTC hash rate and legal issues with crypto lending firm Celsius. Core Scientific claimed in an Oct. 19 court filing that Celsius owed the firm more than $2.1 million for post-petition charges,...
Crypto regulation is 1 of 8 planned priorities under India’s G20 presidency, says finance minister
India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she would love to show that the country is “moving speedily forward” with digital financial technology as it prepares to assume the presidency of the G20. Speaking at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations on Nov. 1, Sitharaman said the people of India have taken to digital technology “as fish to water.” The finance minister added that crypto asset regulation would likely be one of India’s priorities in its leadership of the G20, but needed the support of other members. According to Sitharaman, India needed to work with organizations including the International Monetary Fund, Financial Stability Board, and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to ensure crypto “can be regulated with all countries...
Crypto adoption via regulation: Setting rules for centralized exchanges
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges have become the backbone of the nascent crypto ecosystem, making way for retail and institutional traders to trade cryptocurrencies despite a constant fear of government crackdowns and lack of support from policymakers. These crypto exchanges over the years have managed to put self-regulatory checks and implemented policies in line with the local financial regulations to grow despite the looming uncertainty. Cryptocurrency regulation continues to occupy mainstream debates and experts’ opinions, but despite public demand and requests from stakeholders of the nascent ecosystem, policymakers continue to overlook the rapidly growing sector that reached a market capitalization of $3 trillion at the peak of the bull run in 2021. Over the past five years...
Terra co-founder Do Kwon faces $57-million lawsuit in Singapore
Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs who may be facing legal actions in South Korea and the United States, is the target of a lawsuit in Singapore along with the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) and Terra founding member Nicholas Platias. In a lawsuit filed in Singapore’s high court on Sept. 23, 359 individuals allege Kwon, Platias, the LFG and Terra made fraudulent claims, including that Terra’s stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST) — now TerraUSD Classic (USTC) — was not “stable by design” and unable to maintain its U.S. dollar peg. The claimants are seeking compensation for roughly $57 million worth of “loss and damage” combined based on the value of UST tokens they purchased and held or sold amid the market downturn in May. They also request an order to pay for “aggravated damages.” According to ...
UK police council reports there are officers in every unit trained for crypto enforcement
The detective chief superintendent for the United Kingdom’s National Police Chiefs’ Council has said all police forces in the country have officers trained for investigations involving the enforcement and seizure of cryptocurrencies. In an Oct. 25 parliamentary debate on the U.K. Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, Andy Gould of the NPCC said that the country’s police force had the capability to address economic crimes involving crypto, but not the capacity. He reported that the authorities had used £100 million — roughly $116 million at the time of publication — over the last four years to create “cryptocurrency tactical advisers across the whole of policing.” “There are now officers in every force and every regional organised crime unit who are trained and equipped to [invest...
Celsius users concerned over personal info revealed in bankruptcy case
Crypto lending platform Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 13, 2022. Although the Celsius case involves digital assets, it remains subject to United States Bankruptcy Code under the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. While this may be, a series of unusual events have ensued since Celsius filed for bankruptcy. For instance, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn — the judge overseeing the Celsius case — stated on Oct. 17 that the court will look abroad for guidance. Glenn specifically mentioned that “Legal principles that are applicable in the United Kingdom are not binding on courts in the United States,” yet he noted that these “may be persuasive in addressing legal issues that may arise in this case.” While the treatment of the Celsius c...
