Connect with us

Uncategorized

U.S. Judges Demand SEC ‘Explain Itself’ for Rebuffing Requests for Crypto Rules

Published

on

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission must now thoroughly «explain itself» for refusing to grant Coinbase.’s formal request that the agency write regulations for how the industry should assess whether crypto assets are securities or not, according to a circuit-court ruling on Monday.

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in a legal rebuke of the securities regulator, partially sided with Coinbase’s effort to get the agency to offer legal clarity by writing crypto regulations.

«Rather than force the agency to make a rule, we order it to explain its decision not to,» one of the judges wrote. «Indeed, a rule may not prove necessary to solve the notice problems here; the agency could just state its position on crypto assets unequivocally.»

Judge Stephanos Bibas added a caution to the SEC: «It should not give yet another poor explanation in an already-long line of them.»

The legal blow for the agency — the second setback in a Coinbase-related case in less than a week — could leave an opening for its new leadership. Chair Gary Gensler, the architect of the SEC’s crypto enforcement-heavy approach in recent years, is stepping down as President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20. Trump’s chosen replacement, former Commissioner Paul Atkins, could have a chance to use this court demand to answer that, yes, his agency will change its course on crypto oversight.

Or, even sooner, an acting chairman such as sitting Commissioner Mark Uyeda, one of the agency’s two current Republican members, could be in a position to get that ball rolling while Atkins awaits a Senate confirmation process.

The Monday ruling called the SEC’s crypto actions «arbitrary and capricious,» echoing language from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals when it rejected the agency’s opposition to Grayscale’s application for a spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

«Because we believe the SEC’s order was conclusory and insufficiently reasoned, and thus arbitrary and capricious, we grant Coinbase’s petition in part and remand to the SEC for a more complete explanation,» the judges ruled in this case. However, the circuit court didn’t believe Coinbase’s arguments justified a clear need to demand new rules from the regulator.

“We’re reviewing the decision and will determine next steps as appropriate,» a spokesperson for the SEC said in response to a request for comment.

«We appreciate the court’s careful consideration,» said Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, in a posting on social-media site X. His company’s pursuit of this petition with the SEC is one of a number of court battles Coinbase has been waging with the agency, including its defense against an SEC enforcement action. Last week, a federal court granted the exchange’s effort to accelerate a key legal question in that case to an appeals court.

Read More: Coinbase Granted Significant Advance in Court Clash With Gensler’s SEC

While the partial ruling against the SEC was forceful, one of the judges added his more blistering view on the agency’s performance in this case.

«If the SEC were to promulgate a rule banning crypto assets, it would surely face legal challenges,» Judge Bibas noted. «One might wonder if an agency whose mission is maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets is authorized to ban an emerging technology. … So the SEC has sidestepped the rulemaking process by pursuing a de facto ban through enforcement instead.»

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Ваш адрес email не будет опубликован. Обязательные поля помечены *

Uncategorized

Tesla Reports $951M in Crypto Holdings as it Misses Earnings

Published

on

By

Tesla (TSLA) still holds almost $1 billion in bitcoin, according to the automaker’s latest earnings report.

The electric vehicle firm reported digital asset holdings worth $951 million as of March 31, down from $1.076 billion on Dec. 30. Tesla currently holds 11,509 bitcoin in its balance sheet, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data.

The change is almost certainly due to bitcoin’s price depreciating between the two quarters. Data from Arkham Intelligence indicates that Tesla did not perform any transactions in the last three months. Arkham marks Tesla’s holdings as being currently worth $1.049 billion.

A new rule from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) requires corporate holders of digital assets to begin marking those assets to market each quarter.

Tesla also reported $19.34 billion in revenue for the first quarter of the year; analysts had expected the carmaker to rake in $21.37 billion.

The TSLA shares were up more than 2% in after-hours trading.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Bitcoin Tops $91K as Trade Optimism Fuels Crypto Rally But Demand Headwinds Remain

Published

on

By

Bitcoin (BTC) surged past $91,000 on Tuesday, climbing nearly 5% amid renewed investor optimism and fresh hopes of a thaw in U.S.-China trade tensions, but headwinds persist that could cap further upside, analytics firm CryptoQuant cautioned.

The largest crypto by market capitalization hit $91,700 in the U.S. afternoon, its strongest price since early March. Altcoins followed BTC higher, with Ethereum’s ether (ETH) rising 8% over the past 24 hours above $1,700, and dogecoin (DOGE) and Sui’s native token (SUI) gaining 8.6% and 11.7%, respectively. The broad-market crypto benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index advanced 5.2%.

CoinDesk 20 Index performance on April 22 (CoinDesk)

Markets were buoyed by remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who reportedly told investors at a closed-door JPMorgan event that the tariff standoff with China was unsustainable. Bessent said de-escalation would come “in the very near future,” characterizing current conditions as a “trade embargo.” However, he cautioned that a more comprehensive deal between the two nations could take even years.

Stocks recovered from yesterday’s decline, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq finishing the session 2.5% and 2.7% higher, respectively. Gold, meanwhile, sharply reversed from its record price of $3,500 during the day and was down 1%.

«As capital rotates into safe-haven and inflation-hedging assets, BTC and gold are proving to be key beneficiaries of the exodus from USD risk,» analysts at hedge fund QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast.

They highlighted rejuvenating inflows to spot U.S.-listed BTC ETFs and the return of the so-called Coinbase price premium, suggesting demand from American institutional investors. BTC ETF booked over $381 million net inflows on Monday adding to Thursday’s $107 million, according to Farside Investors data.

But not all signs point to a sustained breakout.

Despite the price jump, on-chain data points to fragility beneath the surface, CryptoQuant analysts said in a Tuesday report. Bitcoin’s apparent demand has decreased by 146,000 BTC over the past 30 days—an improvement from the sharp drop in March, but still negative. CryptoQuant’s demand momentum metric, which tracks new investor interest, has deteriorated further to its the most bearish level since October 2024, the report noted.

Market liquidity remains soft, with the report using USDT’s market cap growth as a proxy for crypto liquidity. USDT grew $2.9 billion over the past two months, below its 30-day average. Historically, BTC rallies coincided with USDT growth above $5 billion and above trend — a threshold not yet met.

Adding to the caution, bitcoin is now facing a key resistance zone between $91,000 and $92,000 at around the «Trader’s On-chain Realized Price» metric, a level that has often served as resistance in bearish conditions. CryptoQuant’s on-chain bull score classified current market conditions as bearish, suggesting a pause or pullback could follow if sentiment weakens.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Unicoin CEO Rejects SEC’s Attempt to Settle Enforcement Probe

Published

on

By

Unicoin has rebuffed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) attempt to negotiate a settlement agreement to close an ongoing probe into the Miami-based crypto company, its CEO Alex Konanykhin revealed in a Tuesday letter to investors.

SEC enforcement cases (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

In his letter, Konanykhin said Unicoin was given an “ultimatum” by the SEC to attend a settlement negotiation meeting last week, on April 18.

“We declined to show up,” Konanykhin told CoinDesk, adding that the SEC had made demands ahead of the meeting that he found “unacceptable.” He declined to share specifics, telling CoinDesk that the communication between Unicoin’s lawyers and the SEC was confidential.

Unicoin received a Wells notice — a sort of official heads-up from the SEC that it intends to file an enforcement action against the recipient — in December, shortly before former Chair Gary Gensler stepped down, alleging violations related to fraud, deceptive practices, and the offer and sale of unregistered securities. No official enforcement action has yet been filed.

Since President Donald Trump took office, the SEC has reversed its once-aggressive stance toward crypto regulation, backing off from many of its open investigations into crypto companies, including blockchain gaming firm Immutable and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, and even some of its ongoing litigation, including against Coinbase and Cumberland DRW.

Other SEC enforcement cases against crypto companies, including its cases against Binance and Tron, have been paused while the parties attempt to negotiate a settlement. The agency recently reached a settlement agreement with Nova Labs, the parent company behind the Helium blockchain, that saw Nova Labs pay a $200,000 fine to settle civil securities fraud charges, and the SEC dropped its claims that Helium (HNT) and other related tokens were securities.

In his letter to investors, Konanykhin claimed that the SEC’s probe has caused “multi-billion-dollar damage” to the company and its investors.

“We would likely be a $10B+ publicly traded company by now if the SEC had not blocked our ICO, stock exchange listing and fundraising,” Konanykhin wrote, adding that the SEC had prevented Unicoin from acting on the “very favorable market opportunities.”

“We were forced into a standstill,” Konanykhin wrote.

The SEC did not respond to a request for comment.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2017 Zox News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by WordPress.