Day: September 7, 2023

VanEck, ARK filings ‘officially’ start clock for spot Ethereum ETFs: Analyst

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The race for the United States’ first spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund has officially begun after new 19b-4 filings by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), which will “ultimately start the clock” for an SEC decision.   On Sept. 6, the CBOE filed two 19b-4 applications to the United States securities regulator, requesting for the ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF and VanEck Ethereum ETF investment products to be listed on CBOE’s BZX Exchange. In a series of tweets, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted that as opposed to the previously submitted S-1 filings, the…

Celsius Network files ‘adversary complaint’ against EquitiesFirst

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Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network has filed a complaint against lending firm EquitiesFirst Holdings in a bid to recoup assets. According to a sealed adversary complaint filed on Sept. 6, Celsius is seeking injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment associated with the “recovery of money/property” — according to the title of the docket. The filing named both EquitiesFirst and its CEO Alexander Christy as defendants. Additionally, Celsius filed a summons on the same day, requiring that the private lender provide a motion or answer within 35 days. The sealed adversary complaint…

San Francisco lost its chance of becoming a global crypto hub

Chris Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple Labs Inc., believes San Francisco was once poised to become the global blockchain capital. Unfortunately, Larsen now believes this status was lost amid hostile US government policy and regulatory crackdowns. In a Sept. 6 report, Larsen believed the US government killed San Francisco, the city where Ripple, the crypto payments company, calls home, from being what it could have been. He attributes this to the Biden administration deciding they wanted to push this industry offshore. As a result, London, as evidenced…

US DOJ freezes Alex Mashinsky’s assets in Celsius case

On August 16, US Department of Justice (DoJ) prosecutors filed a sealed order to freeze Alex Mashinsky’s business accounts and a Texas property co-owned by Kristine Mashinsky, the defendant’s spouse.. As a result, bank accounts and properties owned by Mashinsky have been frozen as part of a criminal investigation involving the former CEO of Celsius. The freeze affected four of Mashinsky’s accounts at Goldman Sachs, registered under the company name Koala LLC, and three accounts from SoFi Bank, SoFi Securities, and First Republic. Additionally, another account held under the name…