Crypto news & regulatory update: October 4 – November 4, 2024

Editor’s note: Our Regulatory Updates series highlights the latest regulatory, legal, and policy happenings relevant to builders in web3 and crypto, as tracked and curated by the a16z crypto regulatory team. The roundups are based on recent news, guidance, legislation, and frameworks released by regulators, industry consortia, professional associations, banks, governments, and other entities as they impact the crypto industry (or applications) around the world. We also occasionally include select resources such as talks, posts, or other commentary — from us or from others — with the updates.

🧠 tl;dr

• Former FTX Engineering Director Nishad Singh was sentenced to time served followed by three years of supervised release for his role in the collapse of FTX. Singh is the fourth former FTX executive to be sentenced.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Cumberland DRW with operating as an unregistered dealer with respect to more than $2 billion of crypto assets allegedly offered and sold as securities.

🌽 Commodity Futures Trading Commission

• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach released a customer advisory alerting messaging app users to beware of schemes to defraud them of assets, specifically crypto assets.

⚖️ Department of Justice

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” former FTX Engineering Director Nishad Singh was sentenced to time served followed by three years of supervised release for his role in the collapse of FTX. Singh is the fourth former FTX executive to be sentenced.
• The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged 18 individuals, crypto market makers, and other entities with fraud and manipulation of crypto asset markets through wash trading and other tactics. A founder and primary operator of one of the market makers has already pleaded guilty. The SEC brought parallel civil charges.
• The DOJ charged an Indiana resident with five counts of money laundering and two counts of willfully failing to file a tax return in connection with his operation of crypto exchange AurumXchange.
• A federal judge sentenced a senior promoter in the crypto ponzi scheme known as Forcount (and later known as Weltsys) to 240 months in prison.
• A federal judge sentenced an 86-year-old former California attorney to five years probation and ordered him to pay almost $14 million for carrying out a multimillion-dollar crypto ponzi scheme.
• A federal judge sentenced a citizen of India to 60 months in prison for stealing more than $20 million from hundreds of victims through the use of fake or “spoofed” websites mimicking the website of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
• The DOJ issued its sixth Annual Report to Congress on its efforts to combat elder fraud and abuse, which, in part, highlighted a cryptocurrency prosecution that resulted in a conviction.

💰 Federal Reserve

• Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller discussed decentralized finance (DeFi) and suggested that DeFi would complement traditional financial services but not replace them.

📈 Securities and Exchange Commission

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the SEC charged Cumberland DRW with operating as an unregistered dealer with respect to more than $2 billion of crypto assets allegedly offered and sold as securities.
• The SEC approved stock exchange rule changes that permit the listing of certain options tied to spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
• The SEC again listed crypto assets in its list of examination priorities for fiscal year 2025.
• SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda discussed digital asset regulation on Fox Business.

🌍 State

⛵ Massachusetts

• The Massachusetts attorney general filed a complaint against a crypto company that presented victims with fraudulent and misleading crypto trading opportunities and used the same acronym as the New York Stock Exchange as part of its deception.

🌍 International

💰 Bank for International Settlements

• The Bank for International Settlements released a report that discusses risks associated with tokenization.

🇪🇺 European Union

• European Central Bank economists released a paper discussing potential economic consequences of widespread distribution of bitcoin.

🪙Financial Stability Board

• The Financial Stability Board (FSB) released a report that discusses risks associated with tokenization.
• The FSB published a status report on the implementation of crypto asset policy at the request of the Brazilian G20 Presidency.

💵 International Organization of Securities Commissions

• The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) released a final report on “Investor Education on Crypto-Assets.” The report summarizes the results of a survey distributed to members of IOSCO’s Committee for Retail Investors about retail investor behavior, demographics, and experiences with crypto assets.

🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates

• Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority announced that it had fined and issued cease-and-desist orders to seven entities for operating without the required licenses and for breaching marketing regulations.

🇺🇳 United Nations

• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime published a report on transnational organized crime, cyber-enabled fraud, underground banking, and technological innovation in Southeast Asia. The report also discusses the illicit use of cryptocurrencies in Southeast Asia.

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