The lawsuit between Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, now involves major crypto exchange Binance after a recent filing on behalf of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. According to court documents filed in the Southern District of New York on Monday, Garlinghouse’s legal team has requested documents “relevant to the case and unobtainable through other means” from Binance Holdings Limited, the Cayman Islands-based subsidiary of the major cryptocurrency exchange. The filing cited U.S. laws concerning the Department of State and the Hague Convention and asked the court to issue a letter of request for the Central …

Pennsylvania-based Bitcoin mining firm Stronghold Digital Mining has filed for a $100-million initial public offering with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm filed its S-1 form on Tuesday, and if given the green light by the SEC, Stronghold intends to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the “SDIG” ticker. Stronghold is a sustainably focused and vertically integrated Bitcoin mining company that was founded in 2021. In June, Cointelegraph reported that the firm completed two private equity securities raises worth $105 million. According to the new filing, Stronghold will use the funds …

Powers On... is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law, where he teaches a course on “Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.” Well, well, well. It seems that some of those class-action law firms that ferret out possible securities claims in search of fees and recovery for investors, sometimes wrapped self-righteously in the flag of investor harm and rights, are properly receiving a cold shoulder …

William Cai, co-founder of investment firm Wilshire Phoenix, is the latest person to cast doubts on the possibility of a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the United States in 2021. Speaking to Business Insider, Cai remarked that a Bitcoin ETF in 2021 is unlikely as he offered 2022 and 2023 as the earliest possible times for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to greenlight a BTC ETF. Several Bitcoin ETF hopefuls currently have filings with the SEC, including fund management outfit Global X, which submitted earlier in July. The SEC has thus far elected to delay its decision …

Stone Ridge Asset Management, the alternative investment manager behind New York Digital Investment Group, has filed a new prospectus with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to add Bitcoin (BTC) to its open-end mutual fund. The prospectus for Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund appeared on the SEC website on Friday, though the actual filing is dated July 26, 2021. The fund is part of an investment portfolio of Stone Ridge Trust, an open-end investment company registered in Delaware. According to the prospectus, the fund’s primary investment objective is “capital appreciation.” The fund seeks exposure to Bitcoin via futures markets …

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce has voiced concerns over the United States lagging behind global jurisdictions in adopting cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs). During an online appearance at the Bitcoin (BTC) conference “The B Word,” Peirce pointed out that many other countries such as Canada have already been trading crypto ETFs, while the U.S. is still deciding whether to approve such a trading instrument. She stated: “I would never have imagined that I would be in this situation where we would not yet have approved one and other countries are moving ahead.” The SEC commissioner also mentioned her concern that …

A Coinbase shareholder has filed a securities class action against Coinbase for allegedly misleading investors ahead of its public listing about the company’s financial state and resilience as a crypto trading platform. Filed by law firm Scott + Scott in the California Northern District Court on Thursday, the class action names Coinbase shareholder Donald Ramsey as a plaintiff, both individually and on behalf of all other investors similarly situated. Ramsey is pursuing his claims under the United States Securities Act and has presented evidence drawn from Coinbase’s regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, company press releases, analyst …

New York-headquartered fund manager Global X Digital Assets has filed an application for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Filed on Wednesday, the application indicates that the proposed Global X Bitcoin Trust — a Delaware statutory trust formed in mid-July of this year — would, if approved, trade on the Cboe bZx exchange. The Bank of New York Mellon would serve as the trust’s administrator. As per the filing: “The Trust’s investment objective is to reflect the performance of the price of bitcoin less the expenses of the Trust’s operations. The Trust …

Argo Blockchain, a U.K. publicly traded company focused on crypto mining, has begun the process of applying for an initial public offering in the United States. According to a confidential draft registration statement filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, Argo has proposed a dual-listing and initial public offering of American Depositary Shares, expected to occur in the third quarter of 2021. The company said the timing could depend on the SEC completing its review process and other conditions in the market. Argo said the number of shares expected to be offered as well as the …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission may soon issue new rules for the regulation and registration of security-based swaps, including cryptocurrency. In a speech to the American Bar Association Derivative and Futures Law Committee, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler laid out the changes coming to security-based swaps over the next year. The changes are designed to increase transparency and reduce risk to the market. The new requirements that will go into effect in November include new counterparty protections, requirements for capital and margin, internal risk management, supervision and chief compliance officers, trade acknowledgement and confirmation, and recordkeeping and reporting procedures. …

Most crypto enthusiasts are less than pleased with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s past approach to crypto. This is not because legitimate businesses oppose regulation but because of the breadth, complexity and uncertainty associated with the current regulatory regime. Even in the context of general discontent, few actions by the SEC have engendered as much widespread criticism as the Dec. 22, 2020 complaint that initiated a civil enforcement action against Ripple Labs and two of its executives. Not everyone opposed the action. For example, Coin Center, a pro-crypto nonprofit advocacy and research group, declined to argue against the …

The CEO of Osprey Funds — the issuer of over-the-counter Bitcoin trust OBTC —isn’t holding his breath for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the United States this year. Speaking to Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre and Seana Smith on July 19, Greg King said he believes that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the leadership of Gary Gensler has so many things on its plate in 2021 that a BTC ETF approval is unlikely to make the cut. King recalled the hype in the crypto industry surrounding Gensler’s appointment, who, while fairly noncommittal in his statements …