SEC Financial News

The Securities and Exchange Commission said investment adviser Pacific Investment Management Company will pay $9 million to settle two enforcement actions related to disclosure and procedure violations.

Binance is under investigation by French authorities for “acts of aggravated money laundering,” an official for the Paris public prosecutor’s office told Bloomberg. 

The Hinman documents were finally unsealed and made publicly available on June 12 after a lengthy back and forth between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but what exactly do they reveal?

Investment giant BlackRock (BLK) filed an application for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Thursday using the crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) for custody and market pricing, in what would be the first product of its kind in the U.S. if approved.

Among other things, the SEC alleges that, while Zhao and Binance publicly claimed that US customers were restricted from transacting on the firm's international exchange, in reality they "subverted their own controls" to skirt this rule.Further, the SEC alleges that, while Zhao and Binance publicly claimed that the company's US exchange was created as a separate, independent trading platform for US investors, they secretly controlled Binance.US operations behind the scenes.According to the SEC, Zhao and Binance have been able to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please, including to an entity Zhao owned and controlled called Sigma Chain. SEC chair Gary Gensler says: "Through thirteen charges, we allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law."As alleged, Zhao and Binance misled investors about their risk controls and corrupted trading volumes while actively concealing who was operating the platform, the manipulative trading of its affiliated market maker, and even where and with whom investor funds and crypto assets were custodied.

The company has failed in its bid to secure a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license in the Netherlands.It is not accepting new users with immediate effect and, from 17 July, existing users will not be able to make purchases, trades or deposits.Binance stresses that it is already compliant with EU standards on the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism as evidenced by its registrations in other EU countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania.However, according to CoinDesk, it is facing money laundering troubles in France, where the authorities are investigating the firm.The probe relates to Binance potentially illegally operating as a digital asset service provider before it received regulatory approval last May.In addition, prosecutors tell CoinDesk, the investigation concerns possible "aggravated money laundering by taking part in investment operations, concealment and conversion, the latter being carried out by perpetrators of offenses having generated profits".In the US, the SEC has sued Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao, alleging a host of securities law violations and accusing the world's largest crypto exchange of engaging in an "extensive web of deception".

Lawyers representing the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have argued that the additional documents submitted by Dentons — the law firm representing Terraform Labs and Do Kwon — in support of its motion to dismiss the lawsuit lack adequate support for dismissing the case.

The Dogecoin price has increased by 2.5% in the past 24 hours, reaching $0.061828 amid a similar gain today for the cryptocurrency market as a whole.

The XRP price has gained by 1% in the past 24 hours, climbing to $0.478546 as the cryptocurrency market  recovers a little from its losses earlier in the week.

Bitcoin is finally showing signs of recovery, but it continues to face challenges in breaking through the $25,600 level. 

Earlier this month, Wall Street's regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, pressed a raft of charges against Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, and US-based Coinbase. Both companies, along with the now defunct FTX, were key brands in the crypto industry, helping grow what began as a secretive playground for tech geeks into a new way to invest embraced by Wall Street. The SEC has been slowly tightening the screws on crypto since 2020.

Blockchain tech company ConsenSys, represented by lawyer Bill Hughes, has formally objected to the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning the redefinition of a securities «exchange». Hughes voiced these objections in a series of tweets today.

Crypto Twitter was witness to a fierce debate this wee, with billionaire investor Mark Cuban accusing SEC’s Gary Gensler of throwing crypto under the bus while a former SEC official was quick to come to the regulator’s defense.

Binance.US and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have agreed to work on an arrangement that will allow the exchange to avoid freezing all of its assets.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission could take months to decide whether or not to respond to crypto exchange Coinbase’s petition for rulemaking, according to a recent court filing.

The price of Ethereum (ETH) has dropped by 6.5% in the past 24 hours, with its fall to $1,637 coming as the cryptocurrency market continues to suffer losses amid regulatory uncertainty.

Binance has carried out a round of layoffs since regulators last week charged it with violating securities laws and sought to freeze its assets, said two people with knowledge of the dismissals and employees' social media posts. One of the sources said around 50 people were laid off. Reuters was unable to independently verify the number or seniority of employees affected. A Binance.US spokesperson did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment. Employees in Binance.US' legal, compliance and risk departments were among those dismissed, the people told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the matter is private.

The $COTI price is fast going to zero in wake of the US Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) assessment that the token is a security.

ETF) that would allow investors to get exposure to the cryptocurrency, as the asset class comes under intense regulatory scrutiny. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust will use Coinbase Custody as its custodian, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The U.S. regulator has yet to approve any applications for spot bitcoin ETFs. Last year, BlackRock launched a spot bitcoin private trust for institutional clients in the United States. The move comes at a time when the global cryptocurrency industry has been caught in the crosshairs of the U.S. securities regulator on alleged violations of securities laws.

The Terra Luna Classic price has fallen by 2% in the past 24 hours, although its drop to $0.00009607 today represents a 13% gain in the past fortnight, as the altcoin compensates for some of the losses caused by the SEC's recent legal actions.

A proposed Securities and Exchange Commission rule would shut down the development of the digital asset industry and should be withdrawn, House Republicans said.