The SEC's recent moves against Coinbase and celebrity endorsers show the agency is getting serious about clamping down on crypto

Matthew Fox
Updated ·3 min read
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crypto
Wenjin Chen/Getty Images

  • Recent actions from the SEC indicate it's getting serious about clamping down on crypto.

  • In the last day, the SEC warned Coinbase and charged eight celebrities with illegally touting a token. 

  • Celebrities charged include Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and rappers Lil Yachty and Soulja Boy.

A flurry of action in a single day this week show the Securities and Exchange Commission is getting serious about regulating the cryptocurrency industry.

The SEC charged Justin Son of Tron, BitTorrent, and Rainberry for fraud and market manipulation, as well as eight celebrities for illegally touting a crypto token without making proper disclosures on Wednesday. The celebrities include Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and rappers Lil Yachty and Soulja Boy, among others.

The SEC said it's "neutral about the technologies at issue" in a Wednesday press release, but that it's "anything but neutral when it comes to investor protection."

"As alleged in the complaint, Sun and others used an age-old playbook to mislead and harm investors by first offering securities without complying with registration and disclosure requirements and then manipulating the market for those very securities. At the same time, Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to tout those very securities, while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation," the SEC said.

Also on Wednesday, Coinbase said it received a Wells Notice from the SEC, indicating that the agency is looking into activities related to listing securities and staking crypto tokens on its platform. If Coinbase's response to the Wells notice does not settle the SEC's concerns, it is likely charges will be levied against what is seen as the most reputable crypto exchange in the industry.

"The US crypto regulatory environment needs more guidance, not more enforcement," Coinbase said in response to the Wells notice. "We asked the SEC for reasonable crypto rules for Americans. We got legal threats instead."

But Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said he is looking forward to a potential legal confrontation with the SEC, saying on Twitter that "the legal process will provide an open and public forum before an unbiased body where we will be able to make clear for all to see that the SEC simply has not been fair, reasonable, or even demonstrated a seriousness of purpose when it comes to its engagement on digital assets."

Armstrong isn't alone in criticizing the SEC's arms-length approach to engaging with crypto firms.

Sheila Warren, the CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, told Insider that while the SEC cracks down on the crypto industry, other major economies like the EU, Japan, and the UK are actively working to settle on a regulatory pathway forward for the sector.

"Are we really going to allow one agency int he US to set the entire trajectory of an innovation for the entire country, especially if that agency refuses to engage with the industry it is trying to regulate?" Warren said, adding that "a reprehensible amount of resources and brainpower have been spent in the US trying to engage with this SEC."

What's clear to many is that SEC chairman Gary Gensler is not the white knight that many in the crypto industry thought he was when he assumed the position in 2021.

Gensler was touted early on by crypto enthusiasts for teaching cryptocurrency courses at MIT and understanding blockchain technology, but that optimism has yet to play out and it may never come to fruition after the SEC's denial of bitcoin ETFs and its ongoing crypto regulatory actions.

Gensler famously described the market as "the wild west" in numerous public comments, vowing to rein in what he said have been excesses that have harmed investors.

Read the original article on Business Insider