The chief of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, claimed Bitcoin is the only crypto asset that can be viewed as a commodity during an invite-only crypto event at Princeton University, reported Fortune. Behnam’s comments are quite a contrast to his early statements in October, where he claimed Ether (ETH) could also be viewed as a commodity. The CFTC chief was answering a question on which crypto assets should be seen as commodities and which ones qualify as securities. The CFTC chief’s backtracking of his comments on ETH comes in the wake of heavy scrutiny of …

One of the leading figures convicted of being behind the $100 million crypto “Ponzi” scheme, EmpiresX, has just been handed an over four-year jail sentence by a United States court. The sentencing was handed to Joshua David Nicholas, the “head trader” of purported crypto platform EmpiresX, who is nowset to serve a 51-month prison sentence along with three years of supervised release for his role in the fraudulent scheme. It follows a Sept. 8 guilty plea from Nicholas for conspiracy to commit securities fraud. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), over a two-year period, Nicholas made claims the platform …

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 …

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 …

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, Alabama Securities Commission Director, 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 …

Belgium’s financial regulatory body has confirmed its position that Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies that are issued solely by computer code do not constitute securities. The explanation came from Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) in a Nov. 22 report, a draft of which was opened for comment in Jul. 2022. The clarification comes following an increase in demands for answers as to how Belgium’s existing financial laws and regulations apply to digital assets, according to the FSMA. While not legally binding under Belgium or European Union law, the FSMA stated that under its “stepwise plan,” cryptocurrencies …

Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific has warned of “substantial doubt” they will be able to continue operations over the next 12 months given financial uncertainty. In its quarterly report filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 22, the firm indicated it had accrued a net loss of $434.8 million over the third quarter of 2022. After net losses of $862 million in the second quarter, its total net losses for 2022 are sitting at $1.71 billion. The company suggested in order to continue its operations through to November 2023, it will require additional liquidity, adding …

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 …

“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 …

The first official decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in the United States is taking on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its 2021 token registrations. American CryptoFed DAO has told Cointelegraph it will represent itself without an attorney over SEC allegations that it omitted and misstated information in a securities registration last year. The DAO registered its native, interdependent stablecoin Ducat and governance token Locke in its 2021 filing with the SEC, but the regulator has begun proceedings to issue a stop order citing a raft of problems with the registration. In correspondence with Cointelegraph, American CryptoFed chief operation officer …

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 against the DAO to determine the issuance of …

United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Summer Mersinger suggested that the time to act on cryptocurrency regulation may have arrived. Speaking at the Texas Blockchain Summit on Nov. 18, Mersinger considered what it may take for effective crypto regulation in the United States. “Lately it’s probably been 70-80% of what we talk about,” Mersinger said of crypto. “We are clearly in a situation where we need to stop, we need to gather the facts, we need to understand what’s happening […] to move policy ahead.” Mersinger saw forward movement in the process. “We are getting to the point …