Most days, there is little love lost between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the world of crypto. As the regulator of the world’s largest capital market, the commission’s continuing work to track down sales for tokens it considers unregistered securities has left a fair bit of the crypto market viewing the commission like a boogeyman. Which is not fair. There are controversial cases, but the ICO boom was rampant with predation, fraud and theft: Exactly the sort of issues you keep a regulator around to stamp out. Right now, though, the SEC is faced with a wide …

Craig Wright, a self-proclaimed Bitcoin (BTC) creator, is apparently not required to pay legal fees for a failed libel suit against the Twitter crypto enthusiast known as Hodlonaut. In an Aug. 14 email to Cointelegraph, Wright’s legal representative argued that he is not obliged to pay legal costs in the defamation suit until the Norwegian Supreme Court considers an appeal. The spokesperson said, “Craig has appealed to the Norwegian Supreme Court. Craig’s Norwegian lawyers say that there is no obligation on Craig to pay the costs until that appeal is dealt with.” The new comments come in response to Hodlonaut …

Konstantin Ignatov, a major figure behind OneCoin cryptocurrency exit scam, was dismissed from a civil class action brought by OneCoin victims. According to an Aug. 7 report by Finance Magnates, OneCoin investors have agreed for a settlement with Ignatov. In a court filing on Aug. 6, plaintiffs Donald Berdeaux and Christine Grablis agreed to discontinue the claims asserted against Ignatov. Still facing up to 90 years in jail in a legal action brought by the United States’ Department of Justice (DOJ), Ignatov is apparently no longer one of the key figures in a civil case, which is related to financial …

Also awaiting charges in the United States and Russia, suspected Bitcoin money launderer Alexander Vinnik could be facing a trial in France first. According to news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), a Paris judge has ordered the Russian national to stand trial for extortion, money laundering, criminal association, and fraudulently accessing and modifying data in data processing systems. The AFP stated French authorities have accused Vinnik of defrauding more than 100 people out of $160 million between 2016 and 2018. Vinnik, also known as "Mr. Bitcoin," is accused of laundering 300,000 Bitcoin (BTC) — roughly $3.4 billion at press time — …

A New York State appeals court affirmed on July 9 that the state attorney general’s fraud investigation into iFinex et al. — i.e., iFinex, Bitfinex and Tether Holdings — could continue. Whether that probe will result in litigation against the company that issues Tether (USDT), the world’s most widely used stablecoin, is anyone’s guess, but if it does, it might promote a more regulated stablecoin industry. As Felix Shipkevich, an attorney specializing in cryptocurrency-related legal and regulatory matters at Shipkevich PLLC, told Cointelegraph: “The New York attorney general, NYAG, is often viewed as the nation’s most important state enforcer of …

A recent Washington D.C. court case saw a man prosecuted on multiple counts for running a Bitcoin (BTC) tumbler — a method of hiding Bitcoin transactions. The court charged the defendant on three counts back in December 2019, including operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, as a July 24 court document revealed. The document noted: “After examination of the relevant statutes, case law, and other sources, the Court concludes that bitcoin is money under the MTA and that Helix, as described in the indictment, was an ‘unlicensed money transmitting business’ under applicable federal law.” Although this particular instance appears to …

The Chinese Supreme Court believes that cryptocurrency property rights should be strengthened. In a document published on July 22, China’s Supreme Court calls for strengthening the protection of property rights pertaining to — among other things — “digital currency, network virtual property, and data.” The official court opinion aims to “promote the improvement of a modern property rights system with clear ownership.” The document also mentions the intention to strike against the “use of public power to infringe private property rights, illegal seizure [...] and freezing of private enterprise property.“ Furthermore, the court’s statement calls for the punishment of all …

In her July 21 speech for Blockchain Week Singapore, Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce, known among the industry as ‘CryptoMom,’ spoke out on her opposition to the SEC’s recently concluded suit against Telegram. SEC action against Telegram served neither investors nor mission Peirce’s speech, entitled “Not Braking and Breaking,” emphasized the roles and responsibilities of regulators regarding innovation, particularly in the light of the case against Telegram that came to an end in June. Telegram had sold $1.7 billion in contracts for GRAM tokens, which would be the native token of the Telegram Open Network. As preface, the commissioner …

On July 21, legal representation for GNY, a firm focused on artificial intelligence and the issuer of LML, filed a final notice of liquidators’ failure to comply with duties. The liquidator in question is accounting firm Grant Thornton, which GNY accuses of botching their handling of hacked and defunct crypto exchange Cryptopia. Such a notice is the final step before a lawsuit, which would add to an already entangled case of trying to return funds from a compromised exchange. The hack and the drawn-out distribution of funds Hackers accessed New Zealand-based crypto exchange Cryptopia for two weeks in January 2019, …

A new class action lawsuit complaint against fintech startup Plaid has been filed with more plaintiffs alleging the company violated the data privacy of users. The new complaint filed on behalf of four new plaintiffs alleged that Plaid—which was bought by Visa for $5.3 billion this year—collected information on over 200 million distinct financial accounts who use services such as Venmo, Coinbase, Square’s Cash App and Stripe. The complaint states Plaid obtained “direct and full access to consumers’ personal financial banking information for Plaid’s own commercial purposes wholly unrelated to the consumers’ use of the apps.” It adds: “Plaid exploits …

Igor Krasnov, Russia’s new Attorney General, says that cybercrime in Russia has surged 25 times over the past five years. Krasnov made the statement during a recent meeting devoted to fighting cybercrime in Russia, according to an official statement on July 17. Only 25% of cybercrime in Russia gets solved At the event, Krasnov outlined that there have already been 225,000 cases in the first half of 2020, a 92% increase in the same timeframe from 2019. The total number of Russian cases for all of last year was just 294,000, Krasnov said. He cited a number of crimes, like …

A dark web drug lord and a Nebraskan pharmacist pled guilty to federal charges on July 13 after both were accused of conspiring to bomb a competing business. According to the indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice, 32-year-old William Burgamy from Maryland was the alleged owner of an illegal pharmaceutical site called NeverPressedRX. The site sold oxycodone and a number of other drugs. His supplier, Hyrum Wilson, is the owner of a store called Hyrum’s Family Value Pharmacy. The two were found to have conspired to firebomb a competing Nebraskan pharmacy, though the two men were arrested before the …