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- SEC asks judge to freeze $2bn in Binance customer assets amid lawsuit.
- US State regulators put pressure on Coinbase over staking service.
- $35m Atomic Wallet hack may be linked to North Korean Lazarus hacker group.
- Robinhood mulls delisting tokens after SEC actions.
SEC asks judge to freeze $2bn in Binance customer assets amid lawsuit
The US Securities Exchange Commission filed an emergency motion on Tuesday which asked a judge to freeze up to $2.2 billion in exchange Binance.US’s customer assets.
The motion comes a day after the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance and its founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, saying the exchange sold unregistered securities.
Clarification: this could only affects https://t.co/hSHrrlF7o7, IF granted by the court.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) June 6, 2023
It does NOT affect https://t.co/9rMMAmc1G9. Funds are #SAFU https://t.co/Xedzc0tyuM
SEC lawyers said that Binance.US — Binance’s US subsidiary and the subject of the lawsuit — has not clearly indicated what it does with customer assets, and that customer assets may be at “significant risk.”
US State regulators put pressure on Coinbase over staking service
US State regulators followed the SEC’s lead in its legal assault on Coinbase. States such as California and New Jersey on Tuesday demanded the exchange pause its staking service.
The SEC announced a lawsuit against Coinbase on Tuesday morning, a day after announcing similar actions against exchange Binance.
The agency served Coinbase a document called a Wells notice in March which warned the firm of impending legal action.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has warned that US regulatory uncertainty may push firms overseas, and has overseen the firm’s expansion outside of the US into Bermuda and elsewhere in recent months.
Coinbase’s top lawyer Paul Grewal told Bloomberg on Tuesday that the company will take the fight to the Supreme Court if necessary.
‘If it takes going to the Supreme Court, that’s what we’re prepared to do’
— Coinbase lawyer Paul Grewal
NOW READ: SEC charges Coinbase with running an illegal exchange in fresh blow for crypto
$35m Atomic Wallet hack may be linked to North Korean Lazarus hacker group
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said Tuesday that a recent Atomic Wallet hack which saw an estimated $35 million in losses was carried out by the North Korea-linked Lazarus hacker group.
Elliptic said in a blog post that proceeds from Saturday’s hack used the same pattern as previously used by Lazarus, which has been implicated in several high-profile exploits in the past.
The firm’s report also found links between wallets associated with previous hacks attributed to Lazarus.
NOW READ: Retail feared that insiders would dump Optimism’s $500m token unlock — so they mass dumped it first
Robinhood mulls delisting tokens after SEC actions
Fintech trading firm Robinhood will weigh whether or not to delist tokens named in this week’s US Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, according to a company representative.
Robinhood’s Chief Legal Compliance Officer Dan Gallagher said at a Tuesday hearing before the US House Agriculture Committee that his company is “actively reviewing” the SEC’s claims.
The company allows trades of popular securities such as Solana, Polygon, and Cardano, which were named by the SEC to be securities.
“The Cardano Foundation disagrees with the recent qualification of ADA as a security under US law. We look forward to the continued engagement with regulators and policymakers to achieve legal clarity and certainty on these matters. – @F_Gregaard as quoted in @FortuneMagazine. https://t.co/ewYso7kWBE
— Cardano Foundation (@Cardano_CF) June 6, 2023
More web3 news from around the web…
Aave prepares to launch GHO stablecoin — The Defiant
SEC’s latest crackdown could drive crypto firms out of the US — CoinDesk
Louis Vuitton to sell $41,000 NFTs to top customers — Decrypt