Kraken Is Being Investigated For Potential Securities Crimes

Key Points:

• The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is apparently looking into whether cryptocurrency exchange Kraken broke any rules regarding the selling of securities.
• Gensler stated that his main objective for regulating cryptocurrency throughout 2023 was to bring crypto exchanges and lending platforms into compliance.
• LBRY Credits (LBC) in the secondary market, however, does not constitute a security, the SEC recently conceded during a Jan. 30 appeal hearing in the LBRY v. SEC case.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is apparently looking into whether cryptocurrency exchange Kraken broke any rules regarding the selling of securities.

The investigation relates to specific offerings that Kraken has made to clients in the United States, according to a Bloomberg story from February 8. According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the investigation is far along and a resolution may be reached soon.

However, it is unclear at this time which offerings the securities regulator is checking out.

SEC main objective for regulating crypto throughout 2023

In December 2022, Gensler stated that his main objective for regulating cryptocurrency throughout 2023 was to bring crypto exchanges and lending platforms into compliance. He claimed that this could be done by having businesses register with the SEC or by taking enforcement action.

There aren’t any tokens out there that are securities that we’re interested in listing, said Kraken CEO Dave Ripley in September 2022, adding that he didn’t see a need to register Kraken as an exchange with the SEC because it doesn’t offer securities.

Gary Gensler, the chairman of the SEC, has asserted numerous times that he views most cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin as securities.

The sale of LBRY Credits (LBC) in the secondary market, however, does not constitute a security, the SEC recently conceded during a Jan. 30 appeal hearing in the LBRY v. SEC case. The judge was persuaded by an argument from attorney John Deaton highlighting the fact that the courts had never deemed the underlying asset to be a security in similar cases.

The “Howey Test” is frequently used by the regulator to evaluate what qualifies as a security. The 1946 SEC v. Howey decision, which established a precedent for what transactions are regarded as securities in the US, is where the name of the concept originated.

It was determined that a transaction meets the criteria for an investment contract, and is consequently regarded as a security, where there is an investment in a shared firm whose earnings are only derived from the labor of others.

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