The SEC is taking action against former Coinbase employees. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, they are said to have earned around 1.1 million US dollars through insider trading.
Coinbase Insider Trading: SEC evaluates 9 cryptocurrencies as securities
During his time at Coinbase, Ishan Wahi is said to have told his brother and a friend which cryptocurrencies will be listed on the trading platform in the near future.
Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani would have bought these cryptocurrencies and sold them again after the announcement with a high profit. In total, this involves 25 digital assets, nine of which the SEC considers to be securities.
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The following cryptocurrencies are said to have been involved: AMP, RLY, DDX, XYO, RGT, LCX, POWR, DFX, KROM.
However, Coinbase itself has nothing to fear due to the indictment. According to the SEC’s complaint, Coinbase treated such information confidentially and warned its employees not to act on the basis of this information or to advise others with this information.
Between June 2021 and April 2022, the accused are said to have made a profit of around 1.1 million US dollars.
Are cryptocurrencies securities?
“We are not concerned about labels, but about the economic realities of a bid,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
“In this case, these realities confirm that a number of the crypto assets in question were securities, and that the defendants, as alleged, were involved in typical insider trading prior to their listing on Coinbase. Rest assured, we will continue to provide a level playing field for investors, regardless of the denomination of the securities in question.“
The regulation of the cryptocurrency industry is a very big issue in the USA. The government is currently working on a comprehensive law that would classify cryptocurrencies with sufficient decentralization as commodities. The US Securities and Exchange Commission, on the other hand, wants to have all cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin recognized as securities.
The question of whether cryptocurrencies are securities is already being raised in the court proceedings between the SEC and Ripple.
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