Archives

January 24, 2025 @ 4:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against the CEO of a startup artificial intelligence (AI) firm and his wife. The SEC alleges fraud involving fake audit reports and other financial documents. A criminal indictment has simultaneously been revealed, charging the duo with… Read More

January 23, 2025 @ 6:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 is no more. Today, SAB 122 rescinded the guidance of SAB 121 – the bulletin that “expressed the views of the staff regarding the accounting for obligations to safeguard crypto-assets an entity holds for platform users.” Effectively, this made… Read More

January 22, 2025 @ 6:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

This past week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a new Crypto Task Force established with the mission of creating a regulatory framework for digital assets. After years of regulation by enforcement, the SEC is finally doing its job. The change arrived with the departure of Gary Gensler as… Read More

January 22, 2025 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

The new Trump administration has moved quickly to reverse the Biden administration’s anti-digital asset innovation policies. This week, Commissioner Mark Uyeda was selected as the acting Chair of the SEC. His first act was to create a Crypto Task Force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce,… Read More

January 21, 2025 @ 9:27 am By JD Alois  |  

Commissioner Mark Uyeda has been designated the Acting Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the inauguration of President Donald Trump and the exit of the Biden Administration. Former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler officially exited his leadership role at the Commission on the… Read More

January 20, 2025 @ 10:10 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has recently announced that, based on its preliminary results, it filed 200 total enforcement actions in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, which ran from October through December 2024, including “118 standalone enforcement actions.” The Division filed a… Read More

January 16, 2025 @ 6:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an appeal against a US federal judge’s decision in its partially unsuccessful case against enterprise blockchain firm Ripple Labs, a move that has been heavily criticized by Ripple’s chief legal officer. In a Jan. 15 filing… Read More

January 16, 2025 @ 8:29 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shared that it has settled with crypto lender Plutus Lending, LLC by paying a civil penalty of $1.65 million. According to the SEC, Plutus, doing business as Abra, offered a retail crypto asset lending product, Abra Earn –… Read More

January 14, 2025 @ 9:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, a move that some will undoubtedly label as politically motivated. Musk, according to the SEC, failed to file a beneficial ownership report in a timely manner when he acquired 5%+ of Twitter – now X…. Read More

January 14, 2025 @ 8:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) won a minor victory in court regarding its ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal shared via X that the Third Circuit Court has chastised the SEC for its denial of rulemaking – something… Read More

January 13, 2025 @ 5:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has assessed $45 million in penalties on neobroker Robinhood Securities LLC and Robinhood Financial LLC. The monetary settlement concerns various charges leveled by the SEC at the broker-dealers. Robinhood Securities agreed to pay a $33.5 million penalty, and Robinhood… Read More

January 13, 2025 @ 11:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Senator Tim Scott, the new Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has issued a statement on Paul Atkins, the individual selected by President-elect Trump to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, if approved by the Senate, will replace the unpopular SEC Chair Gary Gensler…. Read More

December 27, 2024 @ 4:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

Any issuer of securities using the Reg D exemption must file a document with the Securities and Exchange Comission 15 days after the first sale of securities. The two-page document is super simple to complete, and no follow-up filings are required. This simplicity has helped… Read More

December 23, 2024 @ 4:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged Tai Mo Shan Limited with misleading investors about the stability of Terra USD (UST), a purported “algorithmic stablecoin” issued by Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. (Terraform), when UST dropped from its “purportedly fixed exchange rate of 1… Read More

December 17, 2024 @ 4:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation has published its annual report which includes data on access to capital as well as policy recommendations. The Office is relatively new, created under the SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016 – legislation… Read More

December 13, 2024 @ 11:56 am By JD Alois  |  

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of multiple firms including Tesla and SpaceX, has leveraged X, another one of his companies, to lambast outgoing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.   Oh Gary, how could you do this to me? 🥹 pic.twitter.com/OoooQI77ZS — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12,… Read More

December 13, 2024 @ 11:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Cantor Fitzgerald, LP, and two Special Purpose Acquisition companies (SPACs) it controlled with “making misleading statements to investors ahead of their initial public offerings (IPOs).” SPACs are companies that go public with the intent to acquire a private… Read More

December 13, 2024 @ 10:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bitcoin and crypto industry is now focused on blocking or preventing the re-nomination of  SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw as the Senate Banking Committee prepares to vote on her appointment to another term at Wall Street’s main regulatory authority. Crenshaw, a Democrat, was appointed to the commission by President Donald… Read More

December 11, 2024 @ 11:09 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against three Nigerian nationals for scamming investors out of $2.9 million. According to the SEC, the trio impersonated legitimate investment advisors and conning around 28 investors. At the same time, the United States Attorney’s Office for… Read More

December 10, 2024 @ 5:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Investor Advisory Committee met today, and one of the topics reviewed was access to alternative assets. More specifically, the fast-growing private securities markets. Private securities in both debt and equity markets have boomed in recent years. Meanwhile, public securities have diminished due to… Read More