Top Stories This Week
SEC to drop investigation into Ethereum — Consensys
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is dropping its investigation into whether Ether is a security, Ethereum developer Consensys disclosed on June 19. The investigation focused on whether Ethereum’s 2014 initial coin offering constituted an unregistered securities offering. Consensys said the SEC’s decision came after it sent a letter to the agency on June 7 asking if it would end its investigation into Ether (ETH), as the regulator approved exchange-traded funds in May “premised on ETH being a commodity.”
Kraken recovers $3 million from CertiK, ending bug bounty saga
Crypto exchange Kraken has recovered missing funds from CertiK following a high-profile bug bounty exploit fiasco. Kraken confirmed the return of digital assets worth nearly $3 million on June 20, putting an end to the Kraken-CertiK saga. The exchange claimed that a “security researcher” maliciously withdrew from its treasury after discovering and sharing an existing bug. Shortly after, blockchain security firm CertiK publicly identified itself as the “security researcher,” saying it had informed Kraken of an exploit that allowed it to remove millions of dollars from the exchange’s accounts. CertiK also claimed to have been threatened by the exchange’s team.
SEC shoots down Ripple’s argument for a lower penalty
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Ripple’s request for a lower penalty amid its legal battle with the regulatory agency, arguing that Ripple’s proposed $10 million penalty is insufficient compared to the $876.3 million sought. Ripple had cited the SEC’s settlement with Terraform Labs as a benchmark, but the agency believes the circumstances are not comparable, as Terraform agreed to additional measures like leadership changes and investor repayments. The SEC’s proposed penalties for Ripple total nearly…
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