The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for April 11, 2024. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets. Source
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has served a Wells Notice to Uniswap, a leading decentralized exchange (DEX). This pre-enforcement notice, a precursor to potential legal action, triggered a plunge in Uniswap’s native token, UNI. At the time of writing, UNI was trading at $9.37, down 16.2% in the last 24 hours, data from Coingecko shows. The crypto has also sustained a 15% loss in the last seven days. Uniswap Whales Seek Safer Shores The news of the SEC’s looming action acted as a fire alarm for Uniswap’s biggest…
Uniswap Labs is facing a potential enforcement action from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulator is considering taking legal action against the company behind the popular decentralized finance (DeFi) exchange Uniswap. In a blog post published today (Wednesday), the company disclosed that it had been served a Wells notice by the SEC. A Wells notice is a letter issued by the regulator after concluding an investigation, indicating that it plans to pursue enforcement action against the recipient. Uniswap contends that its services are legal. The exchange has assured…
Wells notices are preliminary warnings that inform respondents of the charges the regulator is considering bringing against them. They usually lead to enforcement actions. Though Adams did not say exactly what the SEC has accused Uniswap of doing in his X post, Wells notices sent to crypto companies have, historically, alleged the unregistered offer and sale of securities. Source
Known for her fiery dissenting opinions, “Crypto Mom” discusses how the SEC operates, why she wants to see crypto thrive and her “Safe Harbor” proposal to allow projects to decentralize. Source
Jurors agreed with the SEC that Kwon and, under his direction, Terraform Labs deceived everyday investors about the nature of the supposed algorithm that kept UST pegged to the U.S. dollar. Though Kwon insinuated that it could “automatically self-heal” in the event of a de-peg, it actually relied on continuous trading activity, including large-scale trading done by institutional investors. Source
Despite rising hopes after the agency’s approval of bitcoin spot ETFs in January, industry analysts have become less optimistic that the regulator will follow suit with the products tracking Ethereum’s (ETH). The commission had been pressured into abandoning its earlier opposition of the bitcoin applications after a key loss in a court dispute with Grayscale, and SEC officials had argued that their resulting approval of bitcoin ETFs doesn’t apply to other tokens. Source
The TRON Foundation and Justin Sun asked a New York court to dismiss an SEC lawsuit, arguing that the regulator failed to establish that the court has jurisdiction over the foreign defendants. Source
Last week saw significant legal developments across the cryptocurrency sector, including Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing, regulators’ demanding $2 billion from Ripple, and an indictment against KuCoin. Concurrently, Bitcoin (BTC) reclaimed $70,000 as spot BTC ETFs recorded inflows. FTX founder sentenced to 25 years FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year sentence in prison. Shortly before the sentencing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) submitted a document containing 52 statements from victims of the FTX collapse to underscore the damage done by the company’s former CEO. U.S. SEC demands $2 billion from…
Bitcoin momentum has dwindled, and trades have returned to under $70,000, likely due to the Coinbase and SEC trials. Bitcoin (BTC) and the crypto market had high hopes earlier this week, but the upward trajectory has now halted and receded. At the time of writing, BTC is currently trading at $68,600. Meme coins, which have somewhat fueled this price rise, have also seemed to have died down, although trading volume on Solana and Base has been hitting all-time highs. Despite the price drop, analysts and notable figures still have high…