SEC
Charges laid over alleged ‘crypto mining’ Ponzis that netted $8.4M
United States prosecutors have laid charges in two separate cases against nine people who founded or promoted a pair of cryptocurrency companies alleged to be Ponzi schemes that netted $8.4 million from investors. On Dec. 14 the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed the indictment, alleging the purported crypto mining and trading companies IcomTech and Forcount promised investors “guaranteed daily returns” that could double their investment in six months. In reality, prosecutors say both firms were using the money from later investors to pay earlier investors, while other funds were spent on promoting the companies and buying luxury items and real estate. “Lavish expos” were held in the U.S. and abroad, along with presentations in small communities, that lur...
SEC approves 9 more WisdomTree ‘blockchain-enabled’ funds
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the green light to nine more blockchain-enabled funds from $82 billion asset manager WisdomTree. None of these funds track crypto assets themselves, but the firm does utilize the Ethereum and Stellar blockchains to keep a secondary record of share ownership, thus making them blockchain-enabled or “digital funds” as WidsomTree describes them. The firm announced the SEC’s approval on Dec. 14, and outlined that the nine digital funds offer exposure to a host of different asset classes such as equities, commodities and floating rate treasuries. The funds are expected to launch via the WisdomTree Prime mobile app in the first quarter of 2023. “We believe that blockchain-enabled finance has the potential to improve the investor experien...
Bahamian securities regulator slams new FTX CEO over ‘misstatements’
The Securities Commission of Bahamas has slammed the current CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX John J. Ray III for his statements regarding the ongoing investigation into FTX. In a press release sent to Cointelegraph, the Bahaman regulator didn’t directly point toward the exact statements of the CEO, but addressed recent reports that suggest the Bahamas’ government asked former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to create a new multi-million token and hand over the control to them. The said report also alleged Bahamas officials tried to help Bankman-Fried regain access to key computer systems of the FTX. According to United States lawyers, Bahamas officials were “responsible for directing unauthorized access” to FTX systems in order to take over control of digital assets under the s...
Former top SEC crypto regulator hired by Caroline Ellison
A former top crypto regulator with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will represent Caroline Ellison, the ex-Alameda Research CEO, in an ongoing federal probe, according to a Dec. 10 report from Bloomberg. Ellison will be represented by Stephanie Avakian and a team of attorneys from WilmerHale. Avakain is currently chair of the Securities and Financial Services department at the law firm. At the SEC, she was a director at the Enforcement Division, where she expanded cryptocurrency oversight, bringing cases against Robinhood and Ripple Lab. According to the law firm’s website, “Ms. Avakian oversaw the Division’s approximately 1,400 professionals and staff. During her four years leading the Division, the SEC brought more than 3,000 enforcement actio...
Gensler’s approach toward crypto appears skewed as criticisms mount
Since taking over at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), chairman Gary Gensler has repeatedly been referred to as the “bad cop” of the digital asset industry. To this point, over the past 18 months, Gensler has taken an extremely hard-nosed approach toward the crypto market, handing out numerous fines and enforcing stringent policies to make industry players comply with regulations. However, despite his aggressive crypto regulatory stance, Gensler, for the most part, has remained mum about several key issues that digital asset proponents have been talking about for a long time. For example, the SEC has still failed to clarify which cryptocurrencies can be considered securities, stating time and again that most cryptocurrencies in the market today could be classified...
Crypto consumer protection, proof of reserves bills introduced into US Congress
United States Congressman Ritchie Torres has introduced bills in the House of Representatives to prohibit misuse of customer funds by cryptocurrency exchanges and to require exchanges disclose proof of reserves to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The short bills are intended to supplement other legislation that is passed on cryptocurrency, Torres said. Torres introduced the bills, which have the titles of “Crypto Consumer Investor Protection Act’’ and “Crypto Exchange Disclosure Act,’’ on Dec. 1. The bills are very short. In copies obtained from Torres’ office, the body of the first bill, introduced as H.R. 9241, reads: “A cryptocurrency exchange may not lend, leverage, or co-mingle the funds of a customer without the consent of such customer.” The second bill, H.R. 9242...
LBRY says it ‘will likely be dead’ following SEC loss
The firm behind the decentralized content platform LBRY said its days are likely numbered following its recent loss against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in court. It is specifically LBRY Inc that must die, the LBRY protocol and blockchain will continue. pic.twitter.com/SWwbqTq9In — LBRY (@LBRYcom) November 29, 2022 The SEC initially took LBRY Inc to court in Mar. 2021 over its LBRY Credit (LBC) tokens, alleging that the firm had been conducting unregistered securities offerings since 2016. The SEC ultimately won that battle last month on Nov. 7, after a judge deemed the tokens to be securities in a major blow to the industry. Providing an update on the state of the business via Twitter on Nov. 30, LBRY Inc explained that the company “will likely be ...
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...
American regulators to investigate Genesis and other crypto firms
Cryptocurrency lending firm Genesis Global Capital and other crypto firms are under investigation by securities regulators in the United States, according to reports on Nov. 25. Joseph Borg, director of the Alabama Securities Commission, confirmed that its state and several other states are participating in inquiries regarding Genesis’ alleged ties to retail investors, including if Genesis and other crypto firms might have violated securities laws, Barron’s reported. It is still unclear what other companies are being investigated. Borg noted that the investigation focuses on whether Genesis and other crypto companies influenced investors on crypto-related securities without obtaining the proper registration. The investigation is another chapter in the Genesis saga since the company r...
Approving a spot crypto ETF is ‘all about political power’ — Perianne Boring
Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of blockchain advocacy group Chamber of Digital Commerce, placed the lack of approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States squarely on Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler, suggesting politics played more of a role than economics. Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Texas Blockchain Summit in Austin on Nov. 18, Boring said the events surrounding FTX’s collapse may have “emboldened the regulation by enforcement approach” from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Treasury, with Republican lawmakers likely to focus on oversight using their House majority in the next Congress. According to the Chamber of Digital Commerce CEO, passing any kind of legislation — including bills on crypto, blockchain, and stablecoins — wil...
My story of telling the SEC ‘I told you so’ on FTX
“I hate to say I told you so” is a phrase oft-repeated but rarely sincere. It’s a delightful feeling to claim credit for warning about a problem in advance. That’s a liberty I’m taking with federal financial regulators at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. In January of this year, while serving as a member of the SEC Investor Advisory Committee that advises SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on crypto and other matters, I filed a petition with the SEC. I asked them to open a formal public comment about unique issues presented by crypto and other digital assets. I pointed to crypto custody and intermediary conflicts of interest as key issues the SEC should address. I called this fresh start a “Digital Asset Regulation Genesis Block” that would help the SEC improve crypto regulatio...
American CryptoFed registration at risk as SEC alleges filing anomalies
Disclaimer: The article has been updated based on an official response from American CryptoFed DAO. COO Xiaomeng Zhou explained why the SEC is not legally allowed to issue a stop order. American CryptoFed DAO, the first decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to get legal recognition in the United States, is at risk of losing its registration after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dug up anomalies in the Form S-1 registration statement dated Sept. 17, 2021. The Wyoming Secretary of State’s office recognized American CryptoFed as a legal entity in July 2021, at a time when the organization’s CEO, Marian Orr, believed that “Wyoming is arguably the top blockchain jurisdiction in the world.” However, on Nov. 18, 2022, the SEC instituted administrative proceedings...
