The ongoing legal proceedings regarding the status of crypto tokens have taken a significant turn. A federal court case involving Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi sharing insider info with Sameer Ramani and his brother invites scrutiny. While Ramani remains controversial, Wahi and his brother have settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) and the Department of Justice(DOJ).
(Photo : Freepik/frimufilms)
SEC Gains Ground
Friday brought a new development in the case. The Western District Court of Washington's Judge Tana Lin concurred with the SEC's appeal for a default judgment against Ramani. The implications of this ruling are expected to reverberate across the crypto industry.
Judge Lin's decision shows that the case falls under the SEC's purview, indicating that the digital assets under review were securities despite being traded on Coinbase. This ruling might be the most prominent support yet for SEC Chair Gary Gensler's argument that most industry activities must comply with SEC regulations.
The Unsettling Question
Since the advent of Bitcoin and Ether, regulators have been pondering how to classify digital assets. Should they be considered securities or commodities?
Bitcoin currently has the most clearly established regulations among cryptocurrencies, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission classified it as a commodity in 2015. Other digital assets remain foggy in terms of their classification. Consequently, platforms like Coinbase that offer cryptocurrencies for trade function in a state of legal uncertainty, notwithstanding their conviction that certain crypto assets should not be viewed as securities.
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The Ripple Effect
Stemming from the term of SEC Chair Jay Clayton and continuing under Gensler, the SEC initiated enforcement actions against crypto firms. The SEC alleges these companies are issuing or trading unregistered securities. In pursuit of legal jurisdiction over a wide range of crypto assets, the SEC has brought high-profile cases against Ripple, Coinbase, and Binance.
Federal judges involved in the cases have offered differing opinions on the securities issue, contributing to the current ambiguity. In July, Ripple witnessed a key development as Judge of the Southern District of New York Analisa Torres stated that direct XRP token sales to institutional investors were unregistered securities, while secondary sales were not.
However, Judge Jed Rakoff from the same district contested the logic a month later. In his ruling against Terraform Labs' motion to dismiss the charges, he penned, "The Court declines to draw a distinguish between these coins based on their manner of sale."
Implications From Secondary Trading
The SEC's Coinbase insider trading lawsuit stands apart as it does not involve crypto firms but individuals accused of exploiting insider information for personal gain.
The SEC and the DOJ have argued that Wahi shared proprietary information with his brother and Ramani, enabling them to profit over $1.5 million from trades. The SEC's case has caused concern within the crypto industry by suggesting that defendants traded unregistered securities on Coinbase.
Ramani, thought to be in India, has not settled with the SEC and the DOJ, leading the SEC to seek a default judgment. Judge Lin ruled in the SEC's favor, stating that even when traded on secondary markets, sales of the crypto assets were securities. Judge Lin's verdict defines every crypto asset Ramani traded as an investment contract. Lin's decision is distinct from Rakoff's Terraform ruling as the argument weighed on secondary transactions rather than sales directly from an issuer.
Notably, given that the case is being attended in the Western District Court of Washington, any appeals court decision will also likely impact the Kraken lawsuit. Kraken's lawsuit is in motion within the Northern District Court of California, falling under the same appeals circuit as the Ramani case. Eventually, this heated debate of whether cryptocurrencies are securities might be heading towards the Supreme Court.
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