The SEC puts its grain of sand in the FTX papers. Which fly could have bitten the American regulator to make him feel obliged to come and put a little more confusion in an already very complex file? While the judge has not yet definitively ruled on the nature of the refunds of customers of the bankrupt platform, the SEC now explains "that it reserves the right to challenge transactions involving cryptoassets" while we speak a priori of stablecoins. While customers are just beginning to mourn their cryptocurrencies and the gains that would have come with them, they are now being explained that even a refund in stablecoins could be a problem. Let's see what we know on this Monday morning.
FTX: The US regulator "reserves the right to challenge transactions involving cryptoassets"
Whether you are directly concerned by the current procedure or not, the setbacks of FTX customers cannot leave you indifferent as the fate seems to be fierce against them. After the first months of anxiety to wonder if they would ever see their investments again, hope finally returned, but it was short-lived. The new management of FTX made an abrupt decision last spring that left unhappy users in deep distress: the funds would be repaid in dollars at their bankruptcy day value.
"Treason", "scandal", we heard everything about this decision and despite the effects of the announcement of management that promised a "+118% of their receivables", in detail, this did not apply to most portfolios. There remained the possibility of being reimbursed in stablecoins to avoid additional taxation due to receiving currency, but ultimately, even this could be a problem. And, it is the SEC, the American regulator, that has just sown trouble.
The SEC's approach sows trouble in the procedure and annoys the American cryptosphere
In a file she filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court of Delaware, Gary Gensler's legal teams made a rather convoluted statement as follows:
"The SEC does not rule on the legality, under federal securities laws, of the transactions described in the plan and reserves the right to challenge transactions involving crypto assets. "
Statement of SEC lawyers in a file filed with the court – Source: Justice US
Yes, you read that right, the regulator could oppose a refund in stablecoins under the Securities Act even though stablecoins circulate happily throughout the country! What justifies this remark? What are the regulator's reservations on the substance of the file? No additional statement has yet come to explain the statements of the SEC, but the news has triggered the ire of some American crypto personalities.
Alex Thorn, head of Galaxy Digital, is outraged by this new free and "absurd" attack by the SEC even though the status of stablecoins has been fixed for him for a long time. Same bell ringing on the side of Paul Grewal, the highly media legal director of Coinbase, who ironizes Washington's threats:
"Why bring clarity to the market when threats and slander are enough? Investors, consumers and financial markets deserve much better than that. "
Paul Grewal, Coinbase's legal director - Source: Account X
The deep motivations of the Securities and Exchange Commission remain very vague to date and we cannot bring ourselves to believe that it is just a statement to "bother" the crypto sector as Paul Grewal seems to suspect. Can the financial regulator of the world's leading economy deliberately make this kind of statement without any justification? Answer in the coming days with, hopefully, a reasoned and relevant text explanation from Gary Gensler's entire team. Otherwise, it could suffer a new fire from the American crypto industry, which is already very upset by all its work.
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