SEC - Page 23

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Ripple Calls for Fair Penalty in SEC Case, Cites Terraform Labs Settlement

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Lawyers for blockchain firm Ripple have urged a court to consider an “appropriate” civil penalty in its case against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), referencing a recent settlement between the SEC and Terraform Labs.

On June 13, Ripple’s legal team filed a notice of supplemental authority in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

They argued the SEC’s civil penalty against Ripple was “unreasonable,” citing a recent $4.5 billion settlement with Terraform Labs and its co-founder, Do Kwon.

The SEC has requested that Ripple pay approximately $2 billion in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

However, Ripple has argued for a penalty no greater than $10 million.

Ripple’s lawyers highlighted similar cases involving Block.one, Genesis Global Capital, and Telegram, but redacted specific information regarding their gross revenue.

“As Ripple’s opposition explained, in comparable (and even in more egregious) cases, the SEC has agreed to civil penalties ranging from 0.6% to 1.8% of the defendant’s gross revenues,” said Ripple’s lawyers.

“Terraform fits that pattern.

READ MORE: Kerrisdale Capital Launches Aggressive Campaign Against Bitcoin Miners, Targeting Riot Platforms

Here, by contrast, the SEC seeks a civil penalty far exceeding that range, even though there are no allegations of fraud in this case and Institutional Buyers did not suffer substantial losses.

Terraform thus confirms that the Court should reject the SEC’s disproportionate and unprecedented request and that an appropriate civil penalty would be no more than $10 million.”

After a two-week trial in April, a jury found Kwon and Terraform liable for fraud. Meanwhile, Ripple’s case with the SEC has been ongoing since December 2020.

The regulator alleged that Ripple used XRP as an unregistered security to raise funds.

This case set a significant legal precedent when, in July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the XRP token was not a security in regard to programmatic sales on exchanges.

In October 2023, the SEC moved to dismiss its case against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chair Chris Larsen, indicating plans to discuss remedies with Ripple.

Judge Torres initially scheduled the trial between Ripple and the SEC to begin in April, but adjourned it in October with no set date for resumption.

The timing for the trial remains uncertain.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

SEC Chair Gensler Signals Approval for Spot Ether ETFs by End of Summer

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United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler suggested that the regulator might approve the final listings and trading shares of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within three months.

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on June 13, which discussed U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2025 budget requests for the SEC, Gensler indicated that the commission could approve S-1 registration statements for asset managers “sometime over the course of this summer.”

Previously, on May 23, the SEC had approved 19b-4 filings from eight companies. However, these applications need S-1 approvals before the ETFs can trade on U.S. exchanges.

Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee questioned Gensler about why the commission hadn’t “fully approved Ether ETFs.”

He accused the SEC chair of not prioritizing a “constructive set of rules of the road for the crypto industry.”

While Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam responded by affirming Ether was a commodity, Gensler did not directly address the question but shifted the focus to Ether ETFs.

Gensler stated, “The Ethereum exchange-traded product filings that were in front of us from stock exchanges — I think there were eight or nine of them — were all jointly approved.

Individual issuers still are working through the registration process that’s working smoothly, and I would envision sometime over the course of this summer…”

In a June 5 interview, Gensler mentioned that final approvals for spot Ether ETFs would “take some time” following the greenlighting of 19b-4 filings.

READ MORE: Pepe Surges 17.85% with Strong Bullish Indicators Pointing to a Potential 50% Rally by June’s End

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggested that launching the Ether products on U.S. exchanges in June was feasible, but he predicted final SEC approvals by July 4.

“July was and is a complete guess,” said ETF analyst James Seyffart on X in response to Gensler’s comments.

“But I was more confident in saying that ETH ETFs will launch at some point this summer. That was sort of a given.”

On January 10, the SEC approved 194-b filings for spot Bitcoin ETFs, which began trading on January 11 following the approval of the effective S-1 prospectuses.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust was among the first ETFs to start trading on the Nasdaq.

The SEC has approved 19b-4 filings from asset managers including Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton.

It remains uncertain which company will be first to launch once the S-1 registration statements are approved.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

Ripple Calls for Fair Penalty in SEC Case, Citing Terraform Labs Settlement

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Lawyers for blockchain firm Ripple have urged a court to consider an “appropriate” civil penalty in its case against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), referencing a recent settlement between the SEC and Terraform Labs.

On June 13, Ripple’s legal team filed a notice of supplemental authority in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

They argued the SEC’s civil penalty against Ripple was “unreasonable,” citing a recent $4.5 billion settlement with Terraform Labs and its co-founder, Do Kwon.

The SEC has requested that Ripple pay approximately $2 billion in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

However, Ripple has argued for a penalty no greater than $10 million.

Ripple’s lawyers highlighted similar cases involving Block.one, Genesis Global Capital, and Telegram, but redacted specific information regarding their gross revenue.

“As Ripple’s opposition explained, in comparable (and even in more egregious) cases, the SEC has agreed to civil penalties ranging from 0.6% to 1.8% of the defendant’s gross revenues,” said Ripple’s lawyers.

“Terraform fits that pattern.

READ MORE: Kerrisdale Capital Launches Aggressive Campaign Against Bitcoin Miners, Targeting Riot Platforms

Here, by contrast, the SEC seeks a civil penalty far exceeding that range, even though there are no allegations of fraud in this case and Institutional Buyers did not suffer substantial losses.

Terraform thus confirms that the Court should reject the SEC’s disproportionate and unprecedented request and that an appropriate civil penalty would be no more than $10 million.”

After a two-week trial in April, a jury found Kwon and Terraform liable for fraud. Meanwhile, Ripple’s case with the SEC has been ongoing since December 2020.

The regulator alleged that Ripple used XRP as an unregistered security to raise funds.

This case set a significant legal precedent when, in July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the XRP token was not a security in regard to programmatic sales on exchanges.

In October 2023, the SEC moved to dismiss its case against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chair Chris Larsen, indicating plans to discuss remedies with Ripple.

Judge Torres initially scheduled the trial between Ripple and the SEC to begin in April, but adjourned it in October with no set date for resumption.

The timing for the trial remains uncertain.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

SEC Chair Gensler Signals Approval for Spot Ether ETFs by Summer’s End

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler suggested that the regulator might approve the final listings and trading shares of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within three months.

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on June 13, which discussed U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2025 budget requests for the SEC, Gensler indicated that the commission could approve S-1 registration statements for asset managers “sometime over the course of this summer.”

Previously, on May 23, the SEC had approved 19b-4 filings from eight companies. However, these applications need S-1 approvals before the ETFs can trade on U.S. exchanges.

Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee questioned Gensler about why the commission hadn’t “fully approved Ether ETFs.”

He accused the SEC chair of not prioritizing a “constructive set of rules of the road for the crypto industry.”

While Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam responded by affirming Ether was a commodity, Gensler did not directly address the question but shifted the focus to Ether ETFs.

Gensler stated, “The Ethereum exchange-traded product filings that were in front of us from stock exchanges — I think there were eight or nine of them — were all jointly approved.

Individual issuers still are working through the registration process that’s working smoothly, and I would envision sometime over the course of this summer…”

In a June 5 interview, Gensler mentioned that final approvals for spot Ether ETFs would “take some time” following the greenlighting of 19b-4 filings.

READ MORE: Pepe Surges 17.85% with Strong Bullish Indicators Pointing to a Potential 50% Rally by June’s End

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggested that launching the Ether products on U.S. exchanges in June was feasible, but he predicted final SEC approvals by July 4.

“July was and is a complete guess,” said ETF analyst James Seyffart on X in response to Gensler’s comments.

“But I was more confident in saying that ETH ETFs will launch at some point this summer. That was sort of a given.”

On January 10, the SEC approved 194-b filings for spot Bitcoin ETFs, which began trading on January 11 following the approval of the effective S-1 prospectuses.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust was among the first ETFs to start trading on the Nasdaq.

The SEC has approved 19b-4 filings from asset managers including Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton.

It remains uncertain which company will be first to launch once the S-1 registration statements are approved.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

SEC May Receive Only a Fraction of Multibillion-Dollar Terraform Labs Settlement

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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might receive only a fraction of its multibillion-dollar settlement with Terraform Labs.

A report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that in January, Terraform had assets valued at $430.1 million against liabilities of $450.9 million when it filed for bankruptcy.

As part of a settlement disclosed on June 12, Terraform Labs agreed to pay the SEC approximately $4.47 billion.

This amount includes disgorgement fines of about $3.6 billion, a civil penalty of $420 million, and prejudgment interest nearing $467 million.

However, the settlement still awaits court approval.

In bankruptcy proceedings, claim priorities dictate that secured creditors are paid first, followed by unsecured creditors, which often encompass fines and penalties owed to government entities like the SEC.

Consequently, the SEC would only receive funds after lenders and other secured creditors are compensated.

READ MORE: Aethir Launches Decentralized Cloud Compute Network on Ethereum Mainnet, Pioneering GPU-as-a-Service Solutions

In 2023, the SEC sued Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, accusing them of selling unregistered securities and defrauding investors following the Terra ecosystem’s collapse.

Kwon has since been arrested in Montenegro, with both the U.S. and South Korea seeking his extradition.

Despite the slim likelihood of recovering funds, the SEC has portrayed the settlement as a significant penalty for “one of the largest securities frauds in U.S. history.”

The agency emphasized this point in a letter to U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on June 12:

“If approved, the proposed judgment will send an unmistakable deterrent message to not only those who engage in brazen misconduct, but also to all those who seek to evade the requirements of the federal securities laws by crafting new standards of behavior for crypto assets that fall under the purview of the federal securities laws.”

The Wall Street Journal also noted that fines and penalties collected by the SEC in 2023 totaled $2.8 billion.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

SEC Chair Gensler Signals Possible Approval for Spot Ether ETFs by Summer’s End

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler suggested that the regulator might approve the final listings and trading shares of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within three months.

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on June 13, which discussed U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2025 budget requests for the SEC, Gensler indicated that the commission could approve S-1 registration statements for asset managers “sometime over the course of this summer.”

Previously, on May 23, the SEC had approved 19b-4 filings from eight companies. However, these applications need S-1 approvals before the ETFs can trade on U.S. exchanges.

Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee questioned Gensler about why the commission hadn’t “fully approved Ether ETFs.”

He accused the SEC chair of not prioritizing a “constructive set of rules of the road for the crypto industry.”

While Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam responded by affirming Ether was a commodity, Gensler did not directly address the question but shifted the focus to Ether ETFs.

Gensler stated, “The Ethereum exchange-traded product filings that were in front of us from stock exchanges — I think there were eight or nine of them — were all jointly approved.

Individual issuers still are working through the registration process that’s working smoothly, and I would envision sometime over the course of this summer…”

In a June 5 interview, Gensler mentioned that final approvals for spot Ether ETFs would “take some time” following the greenlighting of 19b-4 filings.

READ MORE: Pepe Surges 17.85% with Strong Bullish Indicators Pointing to a Potential 50% Rally by June’s End

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggested that launching the Ether products on U.S. exchanges in June was feasible, but he predicted final SEC approvals by July 4.

“July was and is a complete guess,” said ETF analyst James Seyffart on X in response to Gensler’s comments.

“But I was more confident in saying that ETH ETFs will launch at some point this summer. That was sort of a given.”

On January 10, the SEC approved 194-b filings for spot Bitcoin ETFs, which began trading on January 11 following the approval of the effective S-1 prospectuses.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust was among the first ETFs to start trading on the Nasdaq.

The SEC has approved 19b-4 filings from asset managers including Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton.

It remains uncertain which company will be first to launch once the S-1 registration statements are approved.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

Terraform Labs to Cease Operations Following $4.47 Billion SEC Settlement, Transfers Terra Blockchain Control to Community

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Chris Amani, CEO of Terraform Labs, has announced that the firm will cease operations following a $4.47 billion settlement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The company plans to sell key projects within the Terra ecosystem and transfer control of the Terra blockchain to the community.

“[Terraform Labs] always intended to dissolve at some point and that point is now. We will be winding down operations completely. […] We were well positioned to accelerate things if we had won the trial, but unfortunately, we lost and as a result, can no longer operate.”

This decision comes after Terraform Labs settled with the SEC over the historic collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in 2022.

The settlement includes a $3.58 billion disgorgement and a $420 million civil penalty.

Having taken over from Do Kwon in July 2023, Amani confirmed the firm’s plan to wind down operations and burn both unvested and vested holdings.

READ MORE: Aethir Launches Decentralized Cloud Compute Network on Ethereum Mainnet, Pioneering GPU-as-a-Service Solutions

He stated, “@evan_docs will shortly post a community proposal to burn all of [Terraform Labs] unvested Luna. Anything that remains vested in our wallets will be burned by [Terraform Labs].”

Amani also emphasized the need for community-led governance of the Terra and Terra Classic blockchains.

The proposal to burn remaining vested tokens and transfer governance elicited mixed reactions from the community, with some expressing optimism and others critiquing past leadership.

The shift toward community control received broad support, particularly for Terra Classic, though some responses to Amani’s X post were critical of the decision.

The dissolution of Terraform Labs has impacted the market, with the prices of LUNA and LUNC falling by 5% and 2%, respectively, within the last 24 hours.

The $4.47 billion SEC settlement sets a significant regulatory precedent in the crypto space, emphasizing the importance of regulatory compliance and governance.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

Space and Time Releases Sub-Second ZK Prover under Open Software License

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Space and Time (SxT), the Verifiable Compute Layer for AI x Blockchain, today released Proof of SQL, a high performance zero-knowledge prover for processing data, on GitHub. 

Proof of SQL is a novel ZK proof developed by SxT, which cryptographically guarantees that SQL database queries were computed accurately against untampered data. Using Proof of SQL, developers can compute over both onchain and offchain datasets in a trustless manner, proving the result back to their smart contract just-in-time during a transaction to power more sophisticated DeFi protocols with data-driven smart contracts.

“Space and Time is thrilled to lead Web3 into a new era of data-driven smart contracts and the next generation of DeFi,” said Jay White, PhD, Co-Founder and Head of Research at SxT, and the inventor of the Proof of SQL protocol. “Our team pioneered sub-second ZK proofs so that smart contracts and AI agents can ask questions about a chain’s activity, as well as offchain data, and receive back trustless SQL query results onchain during a transaction without having to wait for 30 minute proof times.”

Proof of SQL was released in alpha to a select group of SxT customers in August. With today’s release on GitHub, the protocol is now available to the public. Community members can run trustless queries on SxT on the Space and Time Studio, and developers can download the repository directly from GitHub. 

Proof of SQL is the first ZK prover that runs sub-second. In the latest benchmarks run by the SxT cryptography team, the protocol can execute analytic queries over 100k-row tables in less than a second on a single GPU, and can aggregate over millions of rows of indexed data within Ethereum block time on a single NVIDIA T4.

Proof of SQL offers a significantly more performant architecture for processing large volumes of data than generalized zkVMs and co-processors. While generalized zkVMs offer an extensible solution for arbitrary computations, data processing is slow to prove.

Proof of SQL can be integrated with these zkVMs to provide verifiable source data that arbitrary code can be executed over. Space and Time encourages and invites contributions from the community, as well as other ZKP engineering teams to collaborate in the repo. The prover can be integrated into any SQL database (such as Google BigQuery), centralized or decentralized, and is already securing some of the most prominent Web3 apps, financial institutions, and enterprises.

About Space and Time

Space and Time is the verifiable compute layer for AI x blockchain that joins tamperproof onchain and offchain data to deliver enterprise use cases to smart contracts and LLMs. Space and Time has developed a novel cryptography called Proof of SQL that allows developers to connect analytics directly to smart contracts, opening up a wealth of powerful new use cases and business logic on blockchain technology. Space and Time is built from the ground up as a multichain data platform for developers in financial services, gaming, DeFi, or any project requiring verifiable data across enterprise, blockchain and AI.

For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | LinkedIn | YouTube

For media inquiries, please contact: Catherine Daly, marketing@spaceandtime.io

Space and Time Releases Sub-Second ZK Prover under Open Software License

Los Angeles, CA, June 12th, 2024, Chainwire

Proof of SQL is orders of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art zkVMs and coprocessors.

Space and Time (SxT), the Verifiable Compute Layer for AI x Blockchain, today released Proof of SQL, a high performance zero-knowledge prover for processing data, on GitHub. 

Proof of SQL is a novel ZK proof developed by SxT, which cryptographically guarantees that SQL database queries were computed accurately against untampered data. Using Proof of SQL, developers can compute over both onchain and offchain datasets in a trustless manner, proving the result back to their smart contract just-in-time during a transaction to power more sophisticated DeFi protocols with data-driven smart contracts.

“Space and Time is thrilled to lead Web3 into a new era of data-driven smart contracts and the next generation of DeFi,” said Jay White, PhD, Co-Founder and Head of Research at SxT, and the inventor of the Proof of SQL protocol. “Our team pioneered sub-second ZK proofs so that smart contracts and AI agents can ask questions about a chain’s activity, as well as offchain data, and receive back trustless SQL query results onchain during a transaction without having to wait for 30 minute proof times.”

Proof of SQL was released in alpha to a select group of SxT customers in August. With today’s release on GitHub, the protocol is now available to the public. Community members can run trustless queries on SxT on the Space and Time Studio, and developers can download the repository directly from GitHub. 

Proof of SQL is the first ZK prover that runs sub-second. In the latest benchmarks run by the SxT cryptography team, the protocol can execute analytic queries over 100k-row tables in less than a second on a single GPU, and can aggregate over millions of rows of indexed data within Ethereum block time on a single NVIDIA T4.

Proof of SQL offers a significantly more performant architecture for processing large volumes of data than generalized zkVMs and co-processors. While generalized zkVMs offer an extensible solution for arbitrary computations, data processing is slow to prove.

Proof of SQL can be integrated with these zkVMs to provide verifiable source data that arbitrary code can be executed over. Space and Time encourages and invites contributions from the community, as well as other ZKP engineering teams to collaborate in the repo. The prover can be integrated into any SQL database (such as Google BigQuery), centralized or decentralized, and is already securing some of the most prominent Web3 apps, financial institutions, and enterprises.

About Space and Time

Space and Time is the verifiable compute layer for AI x blockchain that joins tamperproof onchain and offchain data to deliver enterprise use cases to smart contracts and LLMs. Space and Time has developed a novel cryptography called Proof of SQL that allows developers to connect analytics directly to smart contracts, opening up a wealth of powerful new use cases and business logic on blockchain technology. Space and Time is built from the ground up as a multichain data platform for developers in financial services, gaming, DeFi, or any project requiring verifiable data across enterprise, blockchain and AI.

For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | LinkedIn | YouTube

Contact

Catherine Daly
marketing@spaceandtime.io

Thailand SEC Revokes Zipmex’s Cryptocurrency Exchange Licenses Amid Regulatory Violations

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Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revoked two operating licenses for the cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex after months of regulatory scrutiny.

In a June 11 announcement, the SEC declared that as of May 28, Zipmex is no longer authorized to operate as a digital asset exchange and broker for cryptocurrencies in Thailand.

The regulatory body had previously ordered Zipmex to halt its services to Thai users in February to address its financial and operational deficiencies.

However, the finance minister concluded that the exchange had not complied with these directives.

The SEC emphasized that Zipmex must return assets to its clients or follow their requests.

For clients who do not specify their requests or claim their assets, Zipmex is required to deposit the unclaimed assets into a trusted and secure system.

Furthermore, the exchange must report each step of these proceedings to the SEC without delay.

Zipmex has been under regulatory scrutiny since the crypto market downturn in 2022.

READ MORE: Cardano DeFi Hub Cerra.io – Public Sale is Live!

The SEC’s investigation included examining an acquisition by V Ventures and whether Zipmex had been operating in Thailand without the necessary regulatory approval.

In November 2023, Zipmex suspended trading, citing regulatory compliance as the reason for this decision.

Zipmex, which is based in Singapore, received its first license from the Thai SEC in 2020.

However, two years later, the exchange filed for debt relief, reportedly owing customers $97 million.

As part of its restructuring efforts, Zipmex proposed offering creditors $0.0335 per dollar for initial claims as of November 2023.

To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.

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