Apple Inc
AAPL
Alphabet Inc - Class C
GOOG
Alphabet Inc - Class A
GOOGL
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN
Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
Meta Platforms Inc - Class A
FB
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. - Class B
BRK.B
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR
BABA
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPM
Johnson & Johnson
JNJ
Bank Of America Corp.
BAC
Exxon Mobil Corp.
XOM
Wells Fargo & Co.
WFC
Visa Inc - Class A
V
Walmart Inc
WMT
Shell Plc - ADR
RDS.B
Shell Plc - ADR (Representing Ordinary Shares - Class A)
RDS.A
Intel Corp.
INTC
AT&T, Inc.
T
Unitedhealth Group Inc
UNH
Cisco Systems, Inc.
CSCO
PetroChina Co. Ltd. - ADR
PTR
Novartis AG - ADR
NVS
Pfizer Inc.
PFE
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing - ADR
TSM
Toyota Motor Corporation - ADR
TM
Home Depot, Inc.
HD
Oracle Corp.
ORCL
Boeing Co.
BA
Procter & Gamble Co.
PG
Verizon Communications Inc
VZ
Citigroup Inc
C
HSBC Holdings plc - ADR
HSBC
China Mobile Limited - ADR
CHL
Coca-Cola Co
KO
Anheuser-Busch In Bev SA/NV - ADR
BUD
Mastercard Incorporated - Class A
MA
Abbvie Inc
ABBV
Comcast Corp - Class A
CMCSA
Philip Morris International Inc
PM
Walt Disney Co (The)
DIS
PepsiCo Inc
PEP
Unilever NV
UN
Unilever plc - ADR
UL
Merck & Co Inc
MRK
NVIDIA Corp
NVDA
International Business Machines Corp.
IBM
3M Co.
MMM
No Result
View All Result
The New York Ledger
  • Home
  • News

    Can a city be redesigned for the new world of work?

    Tech sector tax windfall shores up Ireland’s economy against recession

    ‘No Drama’ Compost? N.Y.C. Is Expanding Food and Yard Waste Pickup

    10 reasons to love London this August

    ‘What a Horrible Place This Would Have Been’

    Kenya’s Raila Odinga and William Ruto in final election push

    Trending Tags

    • general news
    • Risk News
    • Political/General News
    • industrial news
    • Travel
    • Financial Crime
    • business
    • consumer services
  • Spotlight
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Markets
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Climate
  • Lifestyle
Subscribe
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News

    Can a city be redesigned for the new world of work?

    Tech sector tax windfall shores up Ireland’s economy against recession

    ‘No Drama’ Compost? N.Y.C. Is Expanding Food and Yard Waste Pickup

    10 reasons to love London this August

    ‘What a Horrible Place This Would Have Been’

    Kenya’s Raila Odinga and William Ruto in final election push

    Trending Tags

    • general news
    • Risk News
    • Political/General News
    • industrial news
    • Travel
    • Financial Crime
    • business
    • consumer services
  • Spotlight
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Markets
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Climate
  • Lifestyle
Subscribe
  • Login
The New York Ledger
No Result
View All Result
Home Markets

SEC crypto clampdown puts digital asset industry on notice

August 5, 2022
in Markets
A A
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

US markets regulators have put the crypto industry on notice, indicating that they will crack down on violations such as insider trading and fraud with the same vigour at which they pursue them in traditional finance.

In recent weeks the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against individuals for allegedly creating a $300mn “fraudulent crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme”, as well as a case against a former employee of crypto exchange Coinbase.

Officials at the agency, including its chair Gary Gensler, are wasting little time as this year’s turmoil in digital asset markets has left investors facing big losses. Although large swaths of the market are unregulated, the SEC is using pre-existing rules in traditional finance to police the crypto market.

“In traditional finance, these guys are under a microscope,” said Charley Cooper, managing director at blockchain firm R3 and former chief of staff at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US derivatives regulator. He said, in contrast, many crypto traders were “not paying attention” on the assumption the rules would not apply.

The SEC’s case against the former Coinbase employee and his associates has resonated because the regulator’s allegations rely in part on at least nine tokens being identified as securities.

Stocks, bonds and other securities fall under the watchdog’s purview, but there is a fiery debate on the extent to which crypto tokens should fall under this umbrella. The former Coinbase employee said he was “innocent of all wrongdoing”, while the exchange said it has “zero tolerance for this kind of misconduct”.

The case has “brought the issue of potential insider trading and wire fraud at the forefront of all crypto companies’ minds, to ensure that they have adequate policies and procedures to prevent insider trading,” said Teresa Goody Guillén, partner at BakerHostetler, a US law firm.

Cryptofinance

Critical intelligence on the digital asset industry. Explore the FT’s coverage here.

The biggest exchanges say they have longstanding confidentiality obligations on employees. A Binance spokesperson said every employee is “beholden to a 90-day hold on any investments they make and companies leaders are mandated to report any trading activity on a quarterly basis”.

Coinbase said the exchange has had confidentiality obligations in place on employees since 2012, and formal digital asset trading policies in place since 2018 — six years after the exchange was established. Bitfinex said it has “appropriate” policies and procedures in place against insider trading. Several other large crypto exchanges, including FTX, did not respond to the FT’s requests for information about policies in place to identify or mitigate insider trading.

The SEC’s recent cases have also ruffled feathers in Washington, where lawmakers are debating the framework to regulate crypto assets but have yet to reach a consensus.

In the absence of specific rules Gensler has repeatedly pressed for his agency to lead the US’s approach to crypto, arguing that many digital assets are securities. To aid his argument he has cited cases and precedents set in US law decades ago.

The charges against the former Coinbase employee was “a striking case of ‘regulation by enforcement’,” Caroline Pham, a commissioner at the CFTC, said last month. “The SEC’s allegations could have broad implications beyond this single case, underscoring how critical and urgent it is that regulators work together.”

And while the SEC stakes out territory, some lawmakers in Washington are also seeking to limit its influence in the crypto industry.

On Wednesday, senators Debbie Stabenow and John Boozman sponsored a consumer protection bill that would give the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over digital commodity trades. While few expect it the bill to become law, observers say the proposal is likely to influence other legislation in future.

Peter Fox, partner at Scoolidge, Peters, Russotti & Fox, said he had been expecting an SEC crackdown for some time.

“My suspicion is that they were sort of holding their fire through the winter, while asset prices were really high and a lot of these enterprises were quite popular and the exchanges were in the middle of a big advertising blitz . . . I just think the timing of this prosecution is not a coincidence.”

One securities litigator previously employed by the SEC said the regulator “tends to focus more significantly” during periods of market tumult, in order to “avoid public criticism that somehow there is a market integrity issue.”

But others point out that the vacuum created by a lack of regulation meant the SEC, as the US’s most powerful markets regulator, was left with little choice but to act.

“If they don’t do it, you would be left with no one to bring punitive enforcement action other than the Department of Justice,” said Charlie Steele, a former US government lawyer and now partner at Forensic Risk Alliance, a regulation consultancy. “It highlights the need for these prudential regulators to figure this out.”

Click here to visit Digital Assets dashboard

Source: Financial Times

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

Markets

European shares open higher as investors weigh rate rise outlook

Markets

World’s largest shipbroker boosted by rising oil prices

Markets

Investors sell stakes in buyout funds at a record pace

Markets

Investors swarm back to corporate bond ETFs

Markets

In defence of stablecoins

Markets

Energy companies urge UK to detoxify gas exports to EU

Markets

Firefighters battle inferno at Cuban oil facility

Markets

ECB injects billions of euros into weaker eurozone debt markets

Markets

Carmakers face fierce battle for lithium until 2030, warns top producer

Popular News

  • Rishi Sunak accuses Liz Truss of clinging to failed Treasury policies

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Why It’s So Hard to Find an Affordable Apartment in New York

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • David Sheppard | Financial Times

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • A guide to eating and drinking along London’s Regent’s Canal

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Rethinking insurance: how prevention is better than a claim

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Latest News

Politics

New Book Chronicles Trump’s Fraught Relationship With Top Military Officials

Business

People Flock to South Korean Crypto Event Despite Market Turmoil

News

Can a city be redesigned for the new world of work?

Markets

European shares open higher as investors weigh rate rise outlook

About Us

The New York Ledger is an online newspaper for cosmopolitans, global entrepreneurs, management staff, influencers, and other modern leaders who care about wider aspects and broader opinions.

Category

  • Business
  • Climate
  • Companies
  • Lifestyle
  • Markets
  • News
  • Politics
  • Spotlight
  • Tech

Topics

Biomass Ultima global warming Ivan Bednjicki LuxVerte Praimgest S.A Project Phoenix8 Roberto Hroval Themis Ecosystem vertical farming
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact

© 2021 All Rights Reserved - Blue Planet Global Media Network

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Spotlight
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Markets
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Climate
  • Lifestyle

© 2021 All Rights Reserved - Blue Planet Global Media Network

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.