{"id":407149,"date":"2023-06-13T22:37:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T22:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?p=407149"},"modified":"2023-06-13T22:43:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T22:43:02","slug":"sec-and-crypto-assets-what-we-know-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/sec-and-crypto-assets-what-we-know-so-far","title":{"rendered":"SEC And Crypto Assets \u2013 What We Know So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent federal agency enacted based on the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and headed by five Commissioners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The current SEC Chair is Gary Gensler. <\/span>As a federal agency, the SEC is established to set and enforce the right rules in governing US securities markets and participants. <\/span>The SEC is one of the prominent regulators in the US crypto industry. <\/span><\/p>\n Over the years, the SEC has indicated several enforcement actions in the crypto space, creating tension and pressure on crypto firms and assets. <\/span>We\u2019ll look into the activities of the SEC and their impact on the global crypto industry so far.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Commission has the <\/span>mission<\/span><\/a>: \u201c<\/span>To protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.<\/i>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The US SEC has shown increasing enforcement actions and lawsuits in the crypto space over the years. <\/span>Here are some notable SEC enforcement actions and lawsuits in the crypto industry.<\/span><\/p>\n The US <\/span>SEC sued<\/span><\/a> the San Francisco-based blockchain firm Ripple Labs and some of its executives on December 2020.\u00a0<\/span>The regulator alleged that Ripple has been selling its crypto token, XRP, which is unregistered securities.<\/span><\/p>\n The lawsuit against Ripple is still an open court case within the US Southern District Court of New York. <\/span>As the defendant, Ripple stated that XRP is not a security, citing the Hinman Speech documents as strong evidence.\u00a0<\/span>However, SEC filed a motion to keep the speech documents sealed. <\/span><\/p>\n The court finally <\/span>denied<\/span><\/a> the SEC\u2019s motion on May 16, stating that speech documents could influence the ruling of the case. T<\/span>oday June 13, the <\/span>Hinman document has been released<\/span> to the public, causing a buzz in the industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In February 2023, the <\/span>SEC slammed<\/span> a penalty on the Kraken crypto exchange. The regulator charged Payward Trading Ltd and Payward Ventures Inc., both known as Kraken, for offering and selling its crypto staking program.<\/span><\/p>\n In compliance with the settlement terms, Kraken agreed to halt its crypto staking program. Also, the crypto exchange agreed to pay a fine of $30 million to the SEC.<\/span><\/p>\n On June 5, the US SEC <\/span>sued<\/span> the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to the lawsuit filed in a US federal court, the regulator alleged that the defendants violated the US securities laws by selling unregistered crypto assets, which are securities.<\/span><\/p>\n SEC’s charges against Binance expanded the range of crypto assets<\/a> it placed on the securities class to include Cardano, Solana, Polygon, BNB, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n Among its numerous charges, the SEC also accused Binance of allowing its US customers to trade on the international platform Binance.com instead of the subsidiary Binance.US.\u00a0 <\/span>It stated that the exchange had no regulatory clearance to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n On June 6, the SEC <\/span>filed a lawsuit<\/span><\/a> against the US largest crypto exchange, Coinbase, in Manhattan federal court. Recall that before the recent lawsuit, the SEC issued a Well Notice<\/a> to Coinbase earlier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Commission charges Coinbase for operating as an unregistered securities broker through its offering of some unregistered crypto<\/a> coins, which are securities.<\/span><\/p>\n Firms could either opt for settlements or decide to proceed with legal battles with the SEC when faced with regulatory actions.<\/span><\/p>\n Both Binance and Coinbase have indicated the decision the face the SEC head-on on the lawsuits. <\/span>However, the broader crypto space is under tension with the recent crackdown from the SEC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSEC\u2019s Enforcement Actions And Lawsuits On CryptoAssets<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Impact Of SEC\u2019s Recent Crackdown On Crypto<\/b><\/h2>\n