Kategorie: Crypto Markets

• The SEC filed a lawsuit in a New Hampshire court arguing that LBRY’s LBC tokens were tokens and not cryptocurrencies.
• The SEC won a case in November 2022 and LBRY said that it would close.
• LBRY was also ordered to pay a fine of $111,614.

The cryptocurrency firm LBRY has announced its intention to appeal a previous New Hampshire court’s finding that it had neglected to register with the SEC. LBRY announced on its X (previously Twitter) account that it intended to appeal the decision.

LBRY has filed a Notice of Appeal against the SEC. pic.twitter.com/Zp9S0TP0Qw

— LBRY 🚀 (@LBRYcom) September 7, 2023

According to the 2021 SEC’s lawsuit, the blockchain-based file-sharing network sold native LBRY credits (LBC), without registering as a securities dealing company. LBRY has, however, insisted the sold LBC was not securities, and thus the company did not violate federal securities laws as claimed by the SEC.

The SEC was awarded a victory by a New Hampshire judge in November, and the final judgment was submitted on July 11. After the decision, LBRY said that it would close.

The court ordered LBRY to pay a $111,614 fine. The regulator decreased that from $22 million in May due to the company’s “near-defunct status.” Additionally, the corporation was “permanently restrained and enjoined from” directly or indirectly taking part in any unregistered crypto securities offering or breaking federal securities laws.

Similar SEC claims regarding the sale of $1.3 billion in XRP tokens had been made against blockchain company Ripple Labs. Legal professionals have argued that a federal judge’s ruling in favour of Ripple in July – that programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors through exchanges did not violate securities law, but direct sales of the cryptocurrency to institutional investors did – may give hope to other businesses involved in related cases.

The post Crypto firm LBRY files to challenge ruling it violated US Securities Law appeared first on CoinJournal.

• The regulations will start being implemented on or after January 1, 2026.
• The regulations require US-based brokers to file information returns with the IRS using the new Form 1099-DA.
• The brokers will also be required to provide payee statements to customers.

The US Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have published a proposal for cryptocurrency laws outlining brokers’ reporting obligations.

The proposal about cryptocurrency laws for brokers was released on August 29, according to the Office of Advocacy of the US Small Business Administration, which said that “the proposed rules would require digital asset brokers, including trading platforms, payment processors, and certain hosted wallet providers, to report gross proceeds for all sales or exchanges of digital assets starting on January 1, 2025.”

The published proposal comes after the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), a Congressional watchdog agency, released a 77-page report emphasizing the need for stricter crypto regulations.

Blockchain technology—like #cryptocurrency—could offer faster, cheaper financial transactions. But recent price crashes & bankruptcies have raised concerns about gaps in federal regulations that could put consumers at risk. Our new report & video explore: https://t.co/1vyIgZVaYi pic.twitter.com/nxHrk1g5dQ

— U.S. GAO (@USGAO) July 24, 2023

Digital asset middlemen

Cryptocurrency brokers are referred to as “digital asset middlemen” in the regulatory proposal.

According to the proposal, the brokers will be subject to providing information on gains and losses incurred during the sale of crypto assets.  However, this requirement will start being implemented on or after January 1, 2026.

The proposed regulations are anticipated to result in “higher levels of taxpayer compliance” since the IRS would have more information about the money made by taxpayers, according to a linked document shared on the Federal Register.

Small businesses in the United States have been invited by the Treasury Department and the IRS to discuss how the restrictions might affect them. A public hearing is scheduled for November 7, 2023, to support this invitation.

Once the laws are enacted into law, all brokers operating in the United States will need to submit information returns to the IRS using the new Form 1099-DA and give payee statements to clients.

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• At the time of writing, Celsius was trading at $0.1439, up 13.87% in a day.
• The former Celsius CEO, Alex Mashinsk, was arrested on July 13 this year.
• Alex Mashinsk is facing criminal and civil charges for his involvement in the now-defunct platform.

Celsius (CEL) price is rising despite negative news about its former CEO, Alex Mashinsk, who was arrested on July 13, 2023. The Celsius founder’s bail was set at $40 million shortly after his arrest.

Alex Mashinsk is being investigated for his involvement in Celsius which is currently defunct since it filed for bankruptcy. The CEO resigned from Celsius in September after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022.

In July 2023, the US Federal Trade Commission slapped Celsius Network with $4.7 billion fine just hours after the United States SEC filed a lawsuit against Celsius Network and its former CEO Alex Mashinsky.

In August 2023, the US Bitcoin Corp (USBTC) mining company announced a deal with Celsius seeking to manage Celsius assets. This came barely a month after Celsius reached two key settlements related to its bankruptcy proceedings and potential reimbursement of customer assets.

The frozen Alex Mashinsky Assets

Following a request from the US Justice Department, a federal judge has ruled that certain bank accounts and properties linked to the former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky be frozen.

The judge signed off a motion to unseal a restraining order pertaining to Mashinsky’s assets, according to a Sept. 5 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Accounts at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch in the names of holding companies, as well as accounts at First Republic Securities, SoFi Bank, and SoFi Securities in Mashinsky’s name, were all frozen by the Justice Department.

The injunction also covered Mashinsky’s Austin, Texas, property that he and his wife Kristine bought in 2021.

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• The in-principle approval was given by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
• Abu Dhabi launched a $2 billion effort to boost Web3 projects in February.
• Abu Dhabi will give Zodia Markets a chance to expand into the Middle East region.

In some exciting crypto news, Zodia Markets, a platform for digital assets supported by Standard Chartered Ventures, has received approval in principle to operate as an over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency broker-dealer in Abu Dhabi

The approval was given by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a global financial hub in the United Arab Emirates that has been making an effort to entice enterprises involved in the cryptocurrency industry. The third stage of a five-stage application process is considered to be the in-principle level. According to the ADGM instructions, the following steps entail receiving final approval and passing through an “operational launch” test.

According to the CEO of ADGM Authority, Salem Mohammed Al Darei:

“The harmony of traditional and new-age finance in Abu Dhabi with an international leading digital asset firm such as Zodia Markets that is backed by the well-established Standard Chartered will contribute to further enhancing the attractiveness of ADGM as a preferred destination for global entities.” 

The ADGM was one of the first regulators to propose a special licensing system for providers of virtual asset services.

Among other approvals, the regulator has given virtual asset platform M2 and the crypto exchange Rain was granted licenses.

According to reports, Zodia Markets chose Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, as a strategic expansion to give institutional investors in the Middle East and Africa access to cryptocurrency. Last year, Abu Dhabi hosted the Inaugural Middle East Blockchain Awards to recognise and reward outstanding efforts within the blockchain and Web 3.0 fields.

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