Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his electric-vehicle company will start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments once there’s confirmation that miners are utilizing clean energy, offering a glimmer of hope that the FUD surrounding digital assets could soon subside. Musk responded to a Cointelegraph tweet about recent accusations from Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka, who called on the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the billionaire for allegedly manipulating Bitcoin’s price. This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market. When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners …

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has approved guidelines prohibiting crypto exchanges in the country from supporting four different types of tokens in certain cases. In a Friday announcement from the Thai SEC, the regulatory body said that Secretary-General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol had approved crypto exchange guidelines, Notification 18/2564 on “Rules, Conditions and Procedures for Undertaking Digital Asset Business,” on Wednesday to go into effect. The new rules ban Thai exchanges from handling meme-based tokens, fan-based tokens, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and exchange-issued tokens. For tokens issued by exchanges, the SEC said that any cryptocurrencies had to precisely conform to the descriptions in …

Magda Wierzycka, one of the richest women in South Africa and CEO of financial services company Sygnia, said Tesla CEO Elon Musk would likely have been investigated by authorities regarding recent allegations over his manipulation of crypto prices — if his target had been almost anything other than Bitcoin. In an interview with Bruce Whitfield at the Money Show this week, Wierzycka said Musk’s recent social media activity on the price of Bitcoin (BTC) should have made him the subject of investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, if Bitcoin were more of a traditional company. The …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) has warned investors about the risks of Bitcoin futures trading — citing market volatility, a lack of regulation and fraud to name a few issues. In a June 10 Investor Alerts bulletin, the SEC outlines key points that investors should “carefully consider” before investing in a fund that buys or sells Bitcoin futures. “Investors should understand that Bitcoin, including gaining exposure through the Bitcoin futures market, is a highly speculative investment,” the bulletin read. This latest Bitcoin-related risk warning from the SEC follows up on a note it sent out last month, warning …

Hester Peirce of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has once again urged regulators to take a step back from attempting to overregulate the crypto space. Speaking to Financial Times, Peirce, affectionately dubbed “Crypto Mom” due to her positive stance on cryptocurrencies, argued against the need for strict regulatory policies. According to Peirce, regulators by nature often have a knee-jerk reaction to emerging market spaces, often at the expense of innovation. The SEC commissioner warned that pursuing stricter regulatory policies eliminates the ability of market participants to carry out peer-to-peer transactions. Rather than emphasizing government regulations, Peirce advocates for …

The regulatory pressure is mounting in the U.S., with more politicians questioning whether the current framework is adequate. An opinion piece penned for Wall Street Journal by former SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton, and former Undersecretary of the Treasury, Brent McIntosh, have defended the United States’ existing regulatory apparatus regarding crypto and warned that excessive rulemaking could stifle innovation. The discussions come as cryptocurrencies have been thrown into the regulatory spotlight once again in the wake of two crippling ransomware attacks in the U.S. Over the weekend, two senators deliberated on the prospect of banning cryptocurrencies as a solution to the …

An initial public offering is the classic way to take a company public, but many crypto companies bypass the regulatory scrutiny with a backdoor SPAC merger By Connor Sephton If you want to sell stock in an American company to the public, traditionally you hold an initial public offering, better known as an IPO. An IPO starts with the long, arduous, and expensive process of filing an S-1 Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Of course, the purpose of an S-1 is to make sure companies are disclosing everything the public needs to know to make an …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen have filed a motion requesting the United States Securities and Exchange Commission investigate Bitfinex’s parent company, iFinex, and 14 other international crypto exchanges. Wednesday’s motion requests documents from exchanges including iFinex, Bitforex, Bithumb, Bitlish, BitMart, AscendEX (formerly Bitmax), Bitrue Singapore, Bitstamp, Coinbene, HitBTC, Huobi Global, Korbit, OKEx, Upbit Singapore and ZB Network Technology The motion’s supporting memorandum notes the letters of request solicit assistance from authorities in the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Seychelles and Malta. The SEC’s amended complaint against Ripple accuses Garlinghouse and Larsen of …

Ripple has scored another win in its ongoing legal battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as the court has denied the SEC access to Ripple’s legal advice. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Sunday to deny the SEC’s motion to compel Ripple to produce memos discussing XRP sales with the firm’s lawyers. According to the SEC, Ripple could have been aware that XRP could be a security from its legal advisors before moving forward with its token sale back in 2013. The SEC filed a motion on …

Three years and some unforgettable memes later, the Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that 5 individuals will face charges relating to promoting the Bitconnect Ponzi scheme. “The SEC's complaint alleges that these promoters offered and sold the securities without registering the securities offering with the Commission, and without being registered as broker-dealers with the Commission, as required by the federal securities laws,” the release reads. The promoters, including Trevon Brown, Craig Grant, Ryan Maasen, and Michael Noble are said to have “advertised the merits of investing in BitConnect's lending program to prospective investors, including by creating "testimonial" style videos …

Following in the footsteps of VanEck earlier this month, Wisdom Tree has filed an application for an Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. According to filings dated May 27, the ETF’s shares would be listed on the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s BZX Exchange. On May 7, rival ETF issuer, VanEck, also filed an application for an Ether ETF to be traded on the same exchange. Wisdom Tree’s application comes as the SEC has begun its formal review of Bitcoin (BTC) ETF applications submitted by Fidelity and SkyBridge respectively. The filing is far from …

A pair of Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications submitted by Fidelity Investments and SkyBridge Capital are under official review by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, reigniting a long-standing debate about whether regulators will finally approve America’s first crypto-focused ETF. The SEC’s formal review of Fidelity Investments’ application was documented in a Tuesday filing that appeared on the regulator’s website. The formal review of the SkyBridge application was outlined in a May 21 filing. Both ETF applications were submitted in March. As Cointelegraph reported at the time, Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital partnered with investment adviser First Trust Advisors …