Coin Circle News: Ethereum Foundation Investigation, SEC Actions, and More Big Events

Coin circle events:

1. The Ethereum Foundation is under investigation by a state agency

According to CoinDesk, the Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss non-profit organization at the heart of the Ethereum ecosystem, is being investigated by an unnamed "state agency." The scope and focus of the investigation are unclear. Its February 26 GitHub commit states that "we received voluntary inquiries from state agencies, which included confidentiality requirements." A lawyer familiar with the situation said the Swiss regulator may have submitted a document request to the Ethereum Foundation and may be working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

2. Data: Grayscale GBTC had a net outflow of approximately US$386.6 million yesterday

3. Fortune Magazine: US SEC launches legal action to classify Ethereum as a security

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is launching a legal campaign to classify Ethereum as a security, according to U.S. companies that have received subpoenas related to the investigation, Fortune reported. The SEC’s Ethereum investigation involves requiring companies to provide all documents and financial records of their dealings with the Ethereum Foundation. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investigation into the Swiss-based Ethereum Foundation follows the blockchain’s shift to a technology called “proof-of-stake” in September 2022, according to a person at a company that recently received a subpoena request. The new governance model began shortly after.

"The SEC does not comment on the existence of potential investigations," the SEC said in response to Fortune's request for comment.

4. The U.S. SEC postpones its decision on VanEck’s Ethereum spot ETF application

5. FTX CEO: There were only 105 Bitcoins left in the FTX vault when he took over

According to CoinDesk, FTX CEO John Ray recently stated that when he took over as CEO, there were only 105 Bitcoins left in the FTX vault, while customers deserved nearly 100,000 Bitcoins. The statement that customers suffered "zero loss" of funds in FTX's 2022 collapse is patently false. Previously, SBF and his legal team emphasized the company's solvency in their sentencing submissions in February, arguing that "there is zero harm to customers, lenders and investors" and therefore the judge should consider imposing a maximum sentence of 6.5 years in prison.

6. Celsius seeks to recover $2 billion in pre-bankruptcy withdrawals involving 2% of Celsius users

Advisers overseeing the liquidation of Celsius Network are seeking to avoid potential lawsuits from customers who withdrew more than $2 billion from its crypto platform before Celsius filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported. A bankruptcy oversight committee at Celsius has begun contacting customers who withdrew more than $100,000 from the platform before the company went bankrupt in July 2022, and assets recovered through the process will help pay off creditors who have not withdrawn from Celsius. The clawback process will only affect about 2% of Celsius users. In total, these users withdrew about 40% of their assets from the platform in the 90 days before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

7. Dusk will cooperate with the Dutch stock exchange NPEX to launch a regulated digital asset exchange

According to VentureBeat, security token platform Dusk Network has reached a partnership with the Dutch stock exchange NPEX to establish a European regulated digital asset exchange to trade tokenized securities such as stocks or exchange-traded funds.

Previously, Dusk Network acquired a 10% stake in NPEX in 2020.

$BTC $ETH $SOL