U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick has ordered Kraken, the prominent cryptocurrency exchange, to respond to SEC charges of securities law violations within 20 days.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges that Kraken operates as an unregistered securities exchange, offering digital assets that it deems to be investment contracts, thus falling under securities laws.
This is part of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s broader crackdown on crypto platforms that allegedly fail to comply with existing securities regulations.
Kraken argues that digital tokens should not be classified as securities and that the SEC has no authority to regulate them. However, the court’s decision to pursue the case indicates that Kraken could face a protracted legal battle. This comes at a particularly difficult time for the exchange, which is seeking financial backing for a potential initial public offering.
The case highlights the inconsistencies in legal decisions regarding digital assets. While some courts, such as the one in Manhattan, have ruled that certain tokens (e.g., XRP) are not securities when sold publicly, other cases, such as those involving Terraform Labs and Coinbase, have sided with the SEC.
The Block reports that the Banana Gun team is currently investigating reports of a user wallet breach and has temporarily shut down the platform.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has initiated legal action against Rari Capital, a decentralized finance platform, and its founders.
Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius serving a 100-year prison sentence, is seeking the testimony of six ex-employees as part of his criminal case.
Since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, it initially struggled to gain recognition as a groundbreaking technology, often being dismissed as a scam or fraud.