PayPal faces SEC action related to PYUSD stablecoin: Report

Payment giant PayPal has received a subpoena from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. The Enforcement division of the SEC has sent a subpoena to PayPal related to its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin, the firm disclosed on Nov. 2, according to a report by Reuters. The action comes about three months after PayPal launched its PYUSD stablecoin in early August. The stablecoin is issued by Paxos Trust and backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term Treasurys and similar cash equivalents. PYUSD is based on…

SEC charges SafeMoon and founders with crypto securities fraud 

SafeMoon and executive team members, like Kyle Nagy, were indicted in the Eastern District of New York in connection to an international multi-million dollar fraud scheme. On Nov. 1, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Braden John Karony, Kyle Nagy and Thomas Smith with conspiracy, fraud and money laundering over their involvement in SafeMoon. According to the SEC, the token was offered as unregistered crypto asset securities. The three stand accused of using their roles as founder, CEO, and CTO respectively to inflate SafeMoon toward a $5.7 billion…

SafeMoon Executives Face DOJ Arrests And SEC Charges

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced charges against SafeMoon, its creator Kyle Nagy, the company’s CEO, John Karony, and CTO, Thomas Smith.  The SEC alleges that these individuals orchestrated a “massive fraudulent scheme” involving the unregistered sale of SafeMoon (SFM), a “crypto asset security” as defined by the SEC.  Per the complaint, instead of delivering the promised profits and taking the token “Safely to the Moon,” the defendants allegedly wiped out billions in market capitalization, misappropriated investor funds, and withdrew over $200 million in crypto assets for personal…

SEC Charges SafeMoon Team With Fraud, Offering Unregistered Crypto Securities

“Unregistered offerings lack the disclosures and accountability that the law demands, and they attract scammers like Kyle Nagy, who use these vulnerabilities to enrich themselves at the expense of others,” said David Hirsch, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (CACU), referring to SafeMoon creator Nagy. The agency also accused CEO John Karony and Chief Technology Officer Thomas Smith in the fraud. Source

GAO finds controversial SEC guidance is subject to congressional oversight

United States Senator Cynthia Lummis has scored another one for crypto with a Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision issued on Oct. 31. The GAO found that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 should be subject to congressional review. That bulletin, issued in March 2022, has been a source of ire for many pro-crypto lawmakers. The GAO was acting on a letter sent by Lummis to the U.S. Comptroller General in August 2022. It considered whether the bulletin was a rule subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA).…

SEC to Possibly Reevaluate Grayscale Spot Bitcoin Application at November 2 Closed Meeting

Experts continue to speculate on what the SEC’s next course of action regarding crypto-based ETF applications could be. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to be gearing up to reexamine Grayscale’s application to convert its Bitcoin trust into a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). This comes after a recent decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to scrape the regulator’s rejection of Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF application. The court described the SEC’s rejection decision as “arbitrary and capricious”, in what has been described as a landmark victory…

Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs (UST) Seeks Early Court Rejection of U.S. SEC Case

“After two years of investigation, the completion of a discovery period that resulted in the taking of more than 20 depositions, and the exchange of over two million pages of documents and data, the SEC is evidentiarily no closer to proving that the defendants did anything wrong,” Terraform contended in its motion for summary judgment – a formal request to Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that he decide the SEC hasn’t sufficiently demonstrated its case to justify a trial. Source

VanEck submits amended Bitcoin ETF application to SEC

VanEck, the New York-based asset management firm, has submitted an amended application for a spot Bitcoin ETF to the United States SEC. Taking a unique approach that sets it apart from other applicants in the spot Bitcoin ETF market, VanEck submitted revised filings concerning its fund seeding on Oct. 27. Notably, VanEck faced its third rejection from the U.S. SEC on March 10 for its proposal to list and trade shares of its Bitcoin Trust, further stalling its efforts to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. These rejections are part of…

Ripple CEO criticizes former SEC Chair Jay Clayton’s comments

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse strongly criticized former United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Jay Clayton’s remarks regarding the agency’s regulatory approach. Since the first quarter of 2023, the SEC has initiated various regulatory actions against crypto exchanges and companies. During an interview with CNBC on June 29, 2023, Clayton expressed his view that the SEC should pursue legal action against specific companies only when they have strong legal grounds. He emphasized that regulatory agencies should introduce regulations and legal cases they believe will successfully withstand judicial scrutiny. Watching…