The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has alleged that Ripple Labs executives Bradley Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen manipulated the XRP price by ramping up or slowing down their coin sales depending upon market conditions. In an amended complaint filed Feb. 18, the plaintiff — the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission —reiterated its stance that Ripple Labs, Christian Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse violated securities laws with the sale of XRP coins starting in 2013: “From at least 2013 through the present, Defendants sold over 14.6 billion units of a digital asset security called ‘XRP,’ in return for cash or other …

The SEC’s recent inquiry into the Tim Draper-backed DeFi Money Market platform is the most recent example in a concerning trend of increasing action by regulators against unregistered securities. As a result of regulatory inquiries, DMM is ceasing operations. mTokens can be redeemed with interest accrued to-date through the following link: https://t.co/mWB1WacKaH — DMM DAO (@DMMDAO) February 5, 2021 It joins Kik Interactive, Ripple and Coinseed as crypto projects facing the wrath of regulators under aspects of securities law. The mystery behind DeFi Money Market’s abrupt closure on Feb. 5 was unveiled in the project’s official Telegram channel on Feb. …

United States lawmakers are set to grill Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev over the GameStop trading frenzy at a Congressional hearing later today. In his prepared remarks, Robinhood CEO appeared to place responsibility for the platform’s stock trading suspensions on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Tenev said that the company blocked trading to meet “regulatory deposit requirements” defined by the SEC. The exec specifically criticized an SEC rule that requires equities transactions to clear over two days: “It takes several days for the clearinghouse to process the transaction [...] This is known as “T+2” settlement, denoting the trade date plus …

A major United States-based cryptocurrency exchange has halted all XRP trading on its platform in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ongoing lawsuit against Ripple Labs. The PayBito exchange, which processed $1.1 billion worth of trades in 24 hours leading up to the time of publication, will suspend all XRP trading pairs, as announced on Feb.18. Four XRP trading pairs have historically been available on PayBito, with XRP/USDT trades proving the most popular. Notably, the trading suspension will not affect users’ holdings, and those with coins held on the exchange will still be able to transfer them out …

Ark Investment Management founder and CEO Cathie Wood said the likelihood that U.S. regulators will approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has gone up under the Biden administration. In an interview with CNBC’s Bob Pisani today, Wood said there were two signs that the Securities and Exchange Commission might be more open to greenlighting a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF. Under previous administrations, the regulatory body did not approve any Bitcoin ETFs, to the industry’s chagrin. Specifically, the Ark Invest CEO said she was encouraged by Joe Biden’s pick for SEC chair, Gary Gensler. Gensler is known as someone who …

New York Digital Investment Group, or NYDIG, has submitted paperwork with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a new Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund. NYDIG filed a Form S-1 registration statement for a Bitcoin ETF with the SEC on Tuesday. The submission lists NYDIG Trust Company LLC as the fund’s Bitcoin custodian and Morgan Stanley as an authorized participant. As an authorized participant, Morgan Stanley is expected to sell shares to the public at prices that reflect the fund’s assets, supply and demand, and underlying market conditions. The shares will trade on the NYSE Arca exchange under a …

The changing of the guard at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission seems to have affected any possible pretrial settlement in the SEC’s case against Ripple. This conclusion was part of a joint discovery letter filed on Monday before Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Commenting on the prospects of a pretrial settlement, the letter reads: “Counsel for the parties have met and conferred and, having previously discussed settlement, do not believe there is a prospect for settlement at this time. However, the parties will promptly notify the Court if …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor's note A wise man once said, "there's security and there're securities," and if he didn't, he should've. In modern English, it seems a quaint coincidence that the word "security" refers to both safety and a broad class of investments. But as pending arguments about, say, meme-propelled trading in securities are set to take place in forums reserved for national security, it's a good reminder that money precedes weapons as vehicles for national power. In some sense, it's obvious that financial …

The Department of Justice is reportedly the latest to turn up the heat on last month's crazed markets. Citing unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the DoJ's fraud division and the San Francisco district attorney's office had launched probes into the brokers (read: Robinhood) and social-media platforms (read: Reddit) who were at the center of wild bull markets on stocks like GameStop and AMC weeks ago. A number of agencies have announced that they are looking into market manipulation concerns. The Securities and Exchange Commission released a cryptic statement to that effect as GME stocks were …

Powers On... is a new 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 School of Law, where he teaches a course on 'Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.' Dear Readers: Here is my first opinion piece for Cointelegraph since my retirement a month ago from law firm practice (and prior to that, the SEC) after a 40 year career. It is an exciting opportunity for me, and hopefully an interesting …

Legal advisors have warned that Tesla chief executive Elon Musk could come under scrutiny from the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission over his social media activity and public statements around Bitcoin. On Monday, Feb. 8 Tesla announced in an SEC filing that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and will soon start accepting BTC payments. Shortly afterwards, prices of the asset skyrocketed to a new all-time high of a little over $48,000. Partner at Linklaters and former branch chief of the SEC's division of enforcement, Doug Davison, told the UK’s Telegraph newspaper: "It would not be surprising—given the …

IDEO, an American design and innovation consultancy firm, has filed for a new cryptocurrency fund through its blockchain-oriented venture capital subsidiary. IDEO CoLab Ventures, an early stage investment fund focused on blockchain development, has applied Tuesday for a new crypto fund with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Called “IDEO CoLab Crypto Fund II LP,” the new fund has a total offering amount of $100 million. The application was filed by IDEO CoLab managing director Joe Gerber. The SEC filing follows IDEO CoLab's announcement of a $21 million early-stage crypto fund from in October 2020. The new …