The Blockchain Association filed an amicus brief Feb. 13 in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against former Coinbase Global product manager Ishan Wahi and his associates. The advocacy group expressed its support for the defendants’ argument for dismissal, where they claimed the SEC had exceeded its authority in the case. The case alleging unregistered securities sales of nine tokens is being heard in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington. Calling the case “the latest salvo in the SEC’s apparent ongoing strategy of regulation by enforcement in the digital assets space,” the amicus curiae, or “friend …

German engineering and technology giant Siemens has become one of the first companies in Germany to issue a digital bond on a public blockchain, worth €60 million, with a maturity of one year, in accordance with Germany’s Electronic Securities Act. According to the announcement, the bond was sold directly to investors such as DekaBank, DZ Bank, and Union Investment, without the need for central clearing and paper-based global certificates. Siemens noted that the process enabled transactions to be executed much faster and more efficiently than traditional bond-issuing methods. Siemens emphasized the benefits of using digital bonds over traditional bond-issuing methods …

Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider for financial institutions in Europe, has raised $65 million in a Series B capital raise led by Credit Suisse. The funding round also saw participation from several other institutional investors, including Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group, Cedar Mundi Ventures, Arab Bank Switzerland, and Investis. According to the announcement, the funds raised will be used by Taurus to bolster its growth strategy in three primary areas, which include; recruiting top engineering talent to continue developing its platform, expanding its sales and customer success organization to enhance its infrastructure solutions with new offices in Europe, the UAE, …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission and its chair Gary Gensler were the targets of many lawmakers and witnesses at a hearing exploring the crash of the crypto market. In a Feb. 14 hearing at the Senate Banking Committee titled ‘Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets’, ranking member Tim Scott said Gensler should appear before Congress before September to address additional enforcement actions in the crypto space, calling out the SEC chair for doing “rounds on the morning talk shows” rather than testifying. According to the South Carolina senator, the SEC had not provided …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled with Kraken on Feb. 9 for an action taken against the exchange’s staking rewards program. Kraken paid a $30 million fine and agreed to halt the program. Set aside for a moment the irony that the SEC is going after a solvent firm in the crypto space with a decade-long reputation as a good actor. Kraken has been helping settle verified Bitcoin (BTC) claimants from the hacking of rival exchange Mt. Gox over a decade ago. It invented the use of Merkle Root data to create verifiable proof of reserves. It …

Vice chair of the United States Federal Reserve Board Lael Brainard has been chosen to be the director of the National Economic Council, making her President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser, according to media reports. In her new position, Brainard will oversee the implementation of the Biden administration’s multibillion-dollar economic agenda that includes the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act. Brainard will replace Brian Deese, who is expected to leave that position before the end of the month. Her appointment comes as the Biden administration is facing challenging economic conditions, with a looming debt limit and the …

Cumulative NFT trading volume trended higher in January and data from a recent Delphi Digital report showed monthly volumes reaching an eight-month high above $1 billion. The key factor that influenced NFT trading was Blur token airdrop on Feb. 14. Since its launch last year in Q3 2022, Blur has rewarded users with “care packages,” which can be redeemed for tokens starting Feb. 14 at 12 p.m. EST. Many users have tried to farm these airdrops, increasing the platform's trading volume. Since the start of 2023, Blur’s trading volume has surpassed that of OpenSea, the market leader in the NFT …

Cointelegraph’s Crypto Trading Secrets podcast has released its fifth episode, featuring Filbfilb — a cryptocurrency analyst and trader popular on Crypto Twitter. The crypto space has seen several bull and bear markets since the industry began with the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009. Each overarching crypto bull and bear market has primarily hinged on the price action and market cycles of Bitcoin, which makes sense given that BTC is the largest, most established crypto asset. Filbfilb thinks the crypto industry may have another sizable bull market left, according to his interview with host Benjamin Pirus, recorded on Jan. 26. …

After twenty days of holding the $22,500 support, Bitcoin (BTC) price finally broke down on Feb. 9. Bullish traders had placed their hope on a sustained rally, but this has been replaced by a tight trading range with resistance at $22,000. The downtrend is even more concerning since the S&P 500 is trading near its highest level in six months, yet the wider crypto market continues to correct. Regulatory pressure, mainly in the United States, can explain Bitcoin's recent lackluster performance. For starters, on Jan. 9, Kraken exchange reached an agreement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) …

This week on The Market Report, the resident experts at Cointelegraph discuss why the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is going after crypto staking and why stablecoins have been in the news recently. We start off this week’s show with the latest news in the markets: SEC lawsuit against Paxos over BUSD baffles crypto community On Feb. 13, the SEC issued a Wells Notice to Paxos Trust Company, which issues the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin, alleging that the stablecoin is an unregistered security. On the same day, the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos to halt the …

Prosecutors behind the criminal case against former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried have requested additional time to consider the legal implications of him using a virtual private network, or VPN. In a Feb. 13 filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the Justice Department had uncovered that Bankman-Fried accessed the internet on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12 — the second date being Super Bowl LVII. According to Williams, the government’s view was that using a VPN “raises several potential concerns”, citing examples of U.S.-based users accessing certain …

During a bear market, businesses have the opportunity to shift their focus away from money-making to innovation. On this premise, the 2022 disasters that affected the crypto market severely — from Luna to Celsius and the FTX collapse — have emphasized one significant notion: Trust must be earned, and it’s not easy to attain. A healthy industry with a robust business structure will always constitute a winning model for vigorous competition and continued user-base growth. Some businesses managed to thrive in such challenging conditions in 2022 because they had the ability and intuition to apply the righteous principles that others …