The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 97: SEC probes Coinbase, Voyager declines FTX offer, Minecraft bans NFTs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B87zLrvXQ8

 The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into Coinbase—again. The digital currency exchange is now facing a probe over its alleged sale of unregistered securities. The SEC is reportedly investigating Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) over allowing U.S. residents to trade digital assets that the commission deems to be securities. 

The news of the probe comes after last week’s arrest of the company’s former employee, who was accused of insider trading. The SEC claimed that at least nine of the tokens traded are securities. All of these nine tokens are listed on Coinbase. 

Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal tweeted, “We are confident that our rigorous diligence process—a process the SEC has already reviewed—keeps securities off our platform, and we look forward to engaging with the SEC on the matter.”

I’m happy to say it again and again: we are confident that our rigorous diligence process—a process the SEC has already reviewed—keeps securities off our platform, and we look forward to engaging with the SEC on the matter. A refresher: https://t.co/SaacvrZEiU

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) July 26, 2022

In the past, Coinbase has been vocal on how the SEC has been overseeing the digital assets space and has once again called on the commission to clarify its rules for trading. A petition was filed in court on July 27 urging the regulator to create guidelines to safeguard the industry amid a market crash and bankruptcies.

The petition reads, “The U.S. does not currently have a functioning market in digital asset securities due to the lack of a clear and workable regulatory regime.”

Like other major ‘crypto’ players, Coinbase shares tumbled. It dropped 21% this week.

Meanwhile, Voyager declines FTX’s offer to buy the bankrupt digital currency platform saying, “It’s a low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight rescue.”

Last week, digital currency exchange FTX proposed a deal with West Realm Shires and Alameda Ventures to provide immediate liquidity to Voyager’s customers. This includes the option to sign up with FTX and to continue pursuing additional recoveries from Three Arrows Capital (3AC). 

Lawyers for Voyager said that the proposal would disrupt the bankruptcy process and “is nothing more than a liquidation of cryptocurrency on a basis that advantages Alameda FTX.” Alameda is a lender and a major shareholder of Voyager. 

Earlier this month, the digital currency exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, citing the downfall of its borrower 3AC and market volatility. 

In other news, gamers and NFT enthusiasts were disappointed after Minecraft banned blockchain integrations into the game and its servers to create NFTs. The popular game cited fraudulent and speculative pricing, rug pulls, scarcity, and exclusion. 

Although, Minecraft said no to NFTs for now, a famous cat says hello.

Sanrio and Recur are teaming up for the Hello Kitty and Friends World’s NFTs to bring the friendship and community of the world’s favorite characters to the NFT space. Hello Kitty and five of her friends will act as tour guides in eight iconic cities for fans through the 10,000 NFTs for sale. Fans can collect Hello Kitty characters and earn new digital collectibles in the metaverse. 

And before you go, be sure to check out the upcoming Enterprise Utility Blockchain Summit India happening next week in Bengaluru. Sponsored by BSV Blockchain Association, CoinGeek, Gate2Chain, Sunicon and Minta, the summit will focus on India-stack and blockchain scalability, IPv6, and IoTs, among other topics. You can grab your tickets here. 

Watch the special coverage of this event soon on the Coingeek YouTube channel. 

Watch the latest episode of More Than Money with guest Antonino Sardegno:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBYzObT-Rc4