Yuzo Kano, the co-founder of Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer, is seeking to reinstate himself as CEO in a shareholders meeting next month, in an apparent bid to reinvigorate what he claims is a stagnating firm. Kano resigned in 2019 following a series of management disputes but is now determined to reinvigorate the crypto firm and lead it toward an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the coming months, according to a Feb. 26 report by Bloomberg. The former CEO also said he also wants to put Japan back on the map in the world of cryptocurrency. “I will make it capable …

Crypto assets made their way onto the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s list of priorities for 2023. So far, though, we haven’t tasted the “regulatory certainty” many have been calling for. Instead, the regulator threw the book at Kraken for allegedly failing to register its staking program. Coinbase appears next on the chopping block, but its lawyers are ready to fight. This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter delves into Coinbase’s defense of its staking program and its not-too-pleasant quarterly financials. We also look at the latest company to fall victim to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX. Coinbase beats Q4 earnings estimates amid …

The staking services offered by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase are “fundamentally different” to what was offered by its peer exchange Kraken — which recently came under fire from the United States securities regulator — according to Coinbase's head lawyer. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, made the comments in his response to a shareholder question regarding its staking services during a Q&A session on the exchange’s fourth-quarter results, noting: “The staking products that we offer on Coinbase are fundamentally different from the yield products that were described in the reinforcement action against Kraken. The differences matter.” The first point of difference …

Shark Tank investor and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary has urged crypto exchanges to “get on board with regulation” if they want to “stay out of the way” of Gary Gensler and the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). In a Feb. 20 interview with TraderTV Live, O’Leary said that U.S. lawmakers are “fatigued” over crypto collapses and that they’re only going to get more ruthless if companies continue to not comply: “You got to get on board with regulation, you got to stay out of the way of Gensler at the SEC and other regulators. Those hombres [men] in Washington …

New week, a new element of the crypto ecosystem is under attack. This time, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered Paxos Trust to stop issuing Binance USD (BUSD) — a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Paxos received a cease order from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). With no other choice, Paxos announced that from Feb. 21, it would end its relationship with Binance for the branded U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin BUSD. All existing BUSD tokens will remain fully backed and redeemable through Paxos Trust Company until “at least February 2024.” Customers can redeem their funds in U.S. dollars …

Jesse Powell, the current CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, has called out United States financial regulators for letting “the bad guys” win to suit their agenda. In a Feb. 19 Twitter thread, Powell speculated that U.S. regulators — seemingly including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — were allowing crypto firms to operate without enforcement actions as a red herring for companies that are their true targets. According to the Kraken CEO, allowing bad actors to “suck up users, revenue and venture capital” available to firms operating in accordance with regulations could effectively destroy the industry — letting competition run …

In a year of crypto upheavals, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s settlement with crypto exchange Kraken, announced on Feb. 9, set off yet another tremor. Agency chief Gary Gensler took to mainstream media last week to explain the agency’s action, which seemed to be an attack on crypto staking — part of the validation mechanism used by a number of blockchain platforms, including Ethereum, the world’s second-largest network. The immediate issue, in the agency’s view, was that Kraken had been selling unregistered investment products. Indeed, it was advertising big returns on staking crypto — up to 21%, Gensler …

The settlement between Kraken (Payward Ventures) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission set off alarm bells in the crypto community this month. Apparently, Kraken — one of the most compliance-minded crypto exchanges in existence — decided to buy its peace rather than fight with the SEC for years over whether it was offering unregistered “securities” through its staking program. The nature of the settlement is that Kraken neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations, and the existence of the settlement, technically speaking, cannot be used as legal precedent for any argument either side of the issue might present. …

As reported by a local publication on Feb. 15, Korean financial authorities are looking into the staking services market. However, as the unnamed official specified to the journalists: The fears of the crypto community about the possible repercussions of the recent court deal between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Kraken are starting to materialize. Following their American counterparts, South Korean regulators intend to examine the crypto-staking operators in the country. “The position is that there is nothing to be a problem because nothing has been done.” No details on the timeline and methods of the examination …

Despite attempts to police cryptocurrency through enforcement actions, United States financial regulators “are bound by legal reality” and Congress will ultimately decide crypto regulations the policy expert for the crypto advocacy group Blockchain Association has suggested. The association's chief policy officer, Jake Chervinsky, shared his views in an extensive Feb. 14 Twitter thread on the state of crypto policy. He noted neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “has the authority to comprehensively regulate crypto.” 14/ No matter how many enforcement actions the SEC and CFTC bring, they are bound by legal reality: …

After twenty days of holding the $22,500 support, Bitcoin (BTC) price finally broke down on Feb. 9. Bullish traders had placed their hope on a sustained rally, but this has been replaced by a tight trading range with resistance at $22,000. The downtrend is even more concerning since the S&P 500 is trading near its highest level in six months, yet the wider crypto market continues to correct. Regulatory pressure, mainly in the United States, can explain Bitcoin's recent lackluster performance. For starters, on Jan. 9, Kraken exchange reached an agreement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) …

Last week, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reached an agreement with cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. The latter will stop offering crypto staking services to American customers and pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties. While the sum of fines could hardly get an entity like Kraken off balance, the future of staking concerns the crypto market. The court agreement attracted the ire of not only the general crypto community but of investors, politicians and industry executives, with Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran calling SEC Chair Gary Gensler “an agent of an anti-crypto agenda” rather than …