Kraken under SEC probe for offering unregistered securities: report

Securities law violation investigation ongoing

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether major US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken may have sold unregistered securities to US customers, Bloomberg reports. is.

9, citing people familiar with the case, said the investigation was nearing its end and a settlement could be reached in the near future. Further details, such as which tokens are being investigated, have not been disclosed.

Kraken was founded in the United States in 2011 and is currently the second largest exchange in terms of daily trading volume after Binance and Coinbase. The company re-entered the Japanese market in 2020, but withdrew from the Japanese business on January 31 this year due to the reduction of the global management system.

connection:Kraken Japan withdraws from Japan, abolishes crypto asset exchange business

Kraken reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the end of November last year over violations of sanctions against Iran. The exchange agreed to pay a fine of approximately ¥47 million ($360,000) and to invest an additional ¥13 million ($100,000) in sanctions compliance management.

connection:Kraken settles with Treasury over Iran sanctions violations

SEC hard line

The SEC has sued a number of cryptocurrency companies and exchanges over unregistered securities. We are taking a tough approach to the industry.

Most recently, on the 12th of last month, he filed a lawsuit against major exchange Gemini and lender Genesis for violating securities laws. The SEC alleges that Gemini Earn, a yield service provided by Genesis, constitutes an offering and sale of unregistered securities.

connection:SEC sues Gemini and Genesis for securities violations

Cryptocurrency lending firm Nexo reached a settlement with the SEC and state regulators on Jan. 9 over the provision of unregistered securities. In addition to complying with the order to pay a fine of about 5.8 billion yen, we agreed to stop providing yield products to US investors.

connection:Crypto lender Nexo settles with US SEC for $58 million

Last February, cryptocurrency lending firm BlockFi settled with the SEC for a fine of ¥13.1 billion ($100 million). The SEC argued that the company’s provision of unregistered cryptocurrency interest-bearing accounts violated the registration requirements of the Investment Company Act. After that, BlockFi filed for bankruptcy at the end of November last year, partly due to the collapse of major exchange FTX.

The lawsuit against Ripple is probably the most high-profile securities issue. More than two years have passed since the SEC filed a lawsuit in December 2020, and the focus has been on whether the sale of the virtual currency XRP constitutes an investment contract. ing.

connection:Ripple, SEC Submit Final Documents to Court

SEC Chairman Gerry Gensler has pointed out that almost all cryptocurrencies can be classified as securities, but has not specified which cryptocurrencies are considered securities. There have been many criticisms of the SEC’s stance of setting a regulatory precedent through law enforcement without providing clear regulatory clarity on cryptocurrencies.

connection:“Cryptocurrency regulation was a failure,” U.S. lawmaker asks SEC Chairman Gensler to testify before Congress

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