To say the least, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as led by the controversial Gary Gensler has been busy since the start of the Biden administration. Some people in the securities industry applaud Chair Gensler’s accelerated initiatives while others are up in arms. In particular, Gensler has raised the stakes recently with his dramatic… Read More >>
Ex-SEC Enforcement Attorney Calls Crypto ‘Inherently Unsafe’
The question of the day was posed recently by a headline in The New York Times: Why Did Washington Fall So Hard for the Bankman-Fried Brothers? Of course, FTF News knows the answer. Washington politicos, like kids at the ice cream store, tend to fall for the flavor of the day. And until recently, that… Read More >>
SEC Takes Aim at Binance & Coinbase: Reporter’s Notebook
Crypto-currency is crapto-currency. Naturally, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission wouldn’t put it that way. The commission is much too proper. But take it from FTF News, that’s the gist of the SEC’s recent complaint against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Changpeng Zhao, its founder. It’s also the gist of a second legal complaint, alleging similar… Read More >>
SEC Hits Back at Coinbase
It looks like the SEC and Coinbase, Inc. will have their day in court. The SEC raised the legal stakes last week by charging the cryptocurrency exchange with illegally running its crypto-asset transaction platform “as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency,” and that Coinbase allegedly failed to register the sale of its… Read More >>
GOP Crypto Control Bill Aims for Clarity
Two key Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have drafted legislation that they say could help to end the confusion about cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and will set up “a functional framework” to clarify regulatory lines between the CFTC and the SEC. Patrick McHenry (NC-10), who is the chairman of the House Financial… Read More >>
SEC & Ex-Coinbase Manager Settle Insider Trading Case
Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global and his brother, Nikhil Wahi, have settled civil charges with the SEC in a case of insider trading in an age of emerging cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Early in May, in a separate criminal legal action, Ishan Wahi was sentenced to two years in… Read More >>
SEC Shuts Down WeedGenics for Alleged $60M Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down WeedGenics, a firm that raised more than $60 million dollars from investors in the cannabis business. The SEC’s emergency order calls the firm’s offering a fraud and a Ponzi scheme, and lodges charges against the two WeedGenics owners, Rolf Max Hirschmann and Patrick Earl Williams…. Read More >>
HSBC Pays $75M to Resolve Swaps Violations Charges
HSBC is writing checks to the CFTC totaling $75 million via the resolution of two of the regulator’s orders — one involving alleged swaps transaction violations and a $45 million penalty, and the other based on charges of recordkeeping and supervisory failures that incurred a $30 million penalty. The swaps order encompasses allegations that HSBC… Read More >>
SEC Pushes New ‘Living Wills’ for Clearing Agencies
Late last week, the SEC announced that it is proposing big changes for covered clearing agencies (CCAs) that “would augment and strengthen the requirements of the rules that govern CCAs.” When translated from the legal gobbledygook, the SEC really wants better “living wills” a.k.a. “recovery and orderly wind-down plans (RWP)” for clearing agencies that may… Read More >>
FTF Unveils Winners of the 2023 FTF Awards
With nods to established players and voter enthusiasm for other providers hitting their stride, Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) has unveiled the winners of the 2023 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition. The 30 winners of the FTF Awards competition — now in its 12th year — are being honored for achievements during 2022. “It’s not… Read More >>
