Hester Peirce, Commissioner of the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) pointed out six key lessons in a recent speech that industry players must remember what crypto is really about. In a speech at the Digital Assets at Duke conference, Peirce laid down some lessons to be learned from the issues that the crypto industry had to face in 2022. According to the commissioner, 2022 was a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year” for both the crypto space and regulators. However, Peirce believed there are valuable takeaways from the series of problems that arose last year. She explained: “Underlying these …

The approach to crypto regulatory enforcement by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stalled the advancement of Bitcoin (BTC) in the country, according to the CEO of Grayscale Investments. In a letter published in The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 23, the chief of the cryptocurrency asset management firm, Michael Sonnenshein, said he agreed with an assertion that the SEC was “late to the game” regarding crypto regulation and preventing the bankruptcy of FTX, adding: “‘Late’ doesn’t capture what transpired here. The problem is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s one-dimensional approach of regulation by enforcement.” Grayscale is currently …

The good news of the last week is that Bitcoin (BTC) continued to review, making around 10% up from Jan.16 to Jan. 23. But it has yet to change a worrying trend of crypto companies making headlines due to their troubles with the law. The United States Department of Justice launched a “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action” against China-based crypto firm Bitzlato and arrested its founder, Anatoly Legkodymov. The enforcers consider Bitzlato to be a “primary money laundering concern” connected to Russian illicit finance. While the exchange attracted little attention until the DOJ action, it had received $206 million from …

A former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official has slammed "cryptocurrency lobbyists" for labeling SEC enforcement actions as "regulation by enforcement" — calling the term a "Bogus Big Crypto Catch Phrase." John Reed Stark, a former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Internet Enforcement and a crypto skeptic, opined in a Jan. 22 post that the argument is "sorely misguided" as it was just how securities regulations worked. "Litigation and SEC enforcement are actually how securities regulation works," he argued. "The flexibility of SEC statutory weaponry is an SEC hallmark, enabling SEC enforcement to keep fraud in …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has followed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and others in filing parallel charges against the crypto user allegedly behind a multimillion dollar exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets. In a Jan. 20 notice, the SEC alleged Avraham Eisenberg manipulated Mango Markets’ MNGO governance token, allowing him to steal roughly $116 million worth of cryptocurrency from the platform. According to the complain, Eisenberg allegedly executed a series of large MNGO purchases in order to artificially raise the price of the token relative to USD Coin (USDC), then drained the assets from Mango Markets. “Eisenberg …

Crypto lender Nexo Capital has agreed to pay $45 million in penalties to the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) for allegedly failing to register the offer and sale of its Earn Interest Product (EIP). The news was announced by the SEC and NASAA in two separate statements on Jan. 19. According to a statement from the SEC, Nexo agreed to pay a $22.5 million penalty and cease its unregistered offer and sale of the EIP to U.S. investors. The additional $22.5 million will be paid in fines to settle similar charges …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expects the firm’s long-running dispute with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) will be finalized within “single-digit months” and remains confident in securing a favorable outcome. Speaking to CNBC on Jan. 18 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Garlinghouse said the verdict could come as soon as June this year now that both parties have “fully filled and fully briefed” their arguments before the U.S. District Court: “We expect a decision from a judge certainly in 2023. You don’t really have control over when a judge makes their decisions. But I’m optimistic that sometime in …

Venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) has told shareholders it is halting its quarterly dividend payments until further notice as it attempts to preserve liquidity. According to the letter sent to shareholders on Jan. 17, the firm is focused on “strengthening our balance sheet by reducing operating expenses and preserving liquidity.” Its financial issues are derived from the woes of its subsidiary, crypto broker Genesis Global Trading, which reportedly owes creditors more than $3 billion and DCG is also considering selling some of the assets within its portfolio. Customers are currently unable to withdraw funds from Genesis after it …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has reportedly leaked the names and email addresses of many crypto miners connected to blockchain firm Green. According to a Jan. 17 report from the Washington Examiner, the SEC unintentionally included 650 names and email addresses in an email communication with Green as part of an investigation, leaving the blockchain’s nodes vulnerable to hacks. The financial regulator had reportedly been reaching out to Green users regarding their purchase of the firm’s products. “The Privacy Act of 1974 [...] prohibits the disclosure without consent of information about individuals that the federal government …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged cryptocurrency lending firm Genesis Global Capital and crypto exchange Gemini with selling unregistered securities through Gemini’s “Earn” program. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission started the process of getting a default judgment in its case against Ooki DAO after the decentralized autonomous organization missed the deadline to respond to the lawsuit. It also filed suit against digital artist Avraham Eisenberg and charged him with two counts of market manipulation in connection with an exploit of the decentralized finance platform, Mango Markets. In South Korea, tax agents raided the Seoul headquarters of cryptocurrency exchange …

The case of LBRY highlights a wave of renewed regulatory pressure that could affect both blockchain token-issuing companies and their investors. In November, an over year-long court battle between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and blockchain development company LBRY and its LBRY Credits (LBC) token culminated in the ruling of the token as an unregistered security, despite the company's argument of its use as a commodity within the platform. The court’s decision in this case sets a precedent that could influence not only the regulatory perception of blockchain-based platforms, but cryptocurrencies as well. The old Howey Old …

Grayscale filed a reply brief in its appeal of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denial of its application to convert its $12-billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot-based Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). The brief, filed in the District of Columbia Circuit Court, addressed points made in the SEC reply brief filed in December and restated its own arguments. The SEC based its decision on findings that Grayscale’s proposal did not sufficiently protect against fraud and manipulation. The agency had made similar findings in a number of earlier applications to create spot-based BTC ETFs. 1/ As …