Grayscale filed with SEC for Ether Future ETF; SEC claimed that wallet provider Ceffu is associated with Binance; FTX sues Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents
Grayscale Investments has filed another ETF application
The Wall Street Journal reported that Grayscale has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a new ETF tracking Ethereum futures.
Grayscale’s ETF application was filed under the Securities Act of 1933. The company had previously filed another application for an Ether ETF under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
This distinction is important for the regulator. The SEC had previously approved Bitcoin futures ETF applications under both laws.
Grayscale won its lawsuit against the SEC
Grayscale Investment won its lawsuit against the SEC for arbitrarily rejecting the spot Bitcoin ETF offer.
The judge confirmed that the regulator arbitrarily rejected the spot Bitcoin ETF proposal and ruled that the regulator should reconsider its decision.
This decision does not mean that the SEC has to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, but the crypto community still sees this development as important for the future.
The SEC announced that it has postponed its decision on many recent spot Bitcoin ETF applications. Among the postponed applications are the applications of huge companies such as BlackRock, WisdomTree and Fidelty.
SEC claimed that wallet provider Ceffu is associated with Binance
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claimed in its latest filing regarding its lawsuit against BAM, the holding company of Binance.US, that wallet provider Ceffu is associated with Binance.
The reorganised file again argues that Binance’s request for a protective order against the SEC investigation is unjustified. The court is asked to reject this request. As it is known, Binance described the SEC investigation as a “fishing expedition” in its application to the US District Court for the District of Columbia on 14 August.
The SEC raised questions about Ceffu in a statement submitted to the court on 14 September. The regulatory agency said the company, which rebranded from Binance last March, “appears to have control of Customer Assets.”
In response to Binance’s alleged resistance to the SEC investigation, the institution made the following statements in the file dated 18 September:
The limited review that the SEC has been able to conduct so far demonstrates the urgent need for a review. The Court should order the review requested by the SEC as set forth in its Motion to Compel.
In the SEC’s filing dated 18 September, BAM claimed that Binance’s wallet software services are only a third-party vendor similar to BAM’s internet service provider and therefore cannot be expected to know how it works. The SEC disagreed with this.
But Binance and BAM, far from being merely an innocuous service provider, are co-owned by another Defendant in this case that considers itself outside the jurisdiction of any court.
The SEC also wants to depose former Binance US CEO Brian Shroder and chief financial officer Jasmine Lee. Binance US stated that their testimony could be devastating for BAM’s business.
However, Binance’s attempt to get the court to rein in SEC investigative efforts has led to back-and-forth court filings. A hearing on the afternoon of 18 September, Washington D.C. local time, is likely to resolve the matter.
FTX sues Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents!
The bankrupt FTX exchange has filed a lawsuit against Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the parents of the exchange’s founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). According to a filing made on Monday, FTX accuses Bankman and Fried, both respected law professors, of helping to embezzle millions of dollars belonging to the exchange’s customers.
Specifically, FTX is asking the court to compel the pair to pay damages and return any property or cash gifts that may have been donated to them in the early days of FTX.
The lawsuit alleges that both Bankman and Fried, through their sons, abused their access to the exchange because Bankman played an active role in transferring approximately $10 million to himself based on his knowledge of tax law and in-depth understanding of FTX’s corporate structure.
Fried is accused of helping to coerce his son into making a series of political donations to a political action committee (PAC) called Mind the Gap (MTG). While the lawsuit is silent on the exact amount donated to Fried, the amount is reportedly in the tens of millions of dollars. Fund recovery efforts are ongoing.
