Rumors emerged online about an important SEC statement for the crypto industry
What Happened?
FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrette reported, citing her own sources, that the SEC will make an important announcement to the crypto industry on February 9. According to Terrett, the announcement will be made at 10 p.m. Moscow time as the SEC is holding a closed meeting. The journalist suggested that the statement could be related to the settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
Reaction from the cryptocommunity
Not all Twitter users agreed with Terrett. Some speculate that the meeting will announce a settlement with Ripple – the regulator sued the company in 2020 because it considered the sale of native XRP tokens to be an unregistered securities transaction. Ripple attorney John Deaton has conceded that the case could be ruled on in April or May of this year.
Others speculate that the SEC will discuss the case against cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, its top executives and counterparties. The service’s main shareholder Anatoly Legkodimov has been arrested by U.S. authorities for allegedly laundering $700 million. During the Interpol operation in Europe six people were detained in this case, including co-founder of EXMO crypto exchange Pavel Lerner. Bitzlato co-founder Anton Shkurenko was also detained in Moscow at the request of the international organization.
Among the possible topics was even the advertising of cryptocurrencies at the crucial match of the U.S. National Football League (Super Bowl), which will be held on February 12. However, the official broadcaster of the match, FOX TV channel, has already announced that cryptocurrency advertisements will not appear on the air.
In addition, on February 9, analyst Colin Wu, citing sources, reported that regulators along with the U.S. Treasury Department launched a major campaign to debank cryptocurrencies, demanding that they withdraw license applications. On the same day, Brian Armstrong, head of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, also citing sources, said that the SEC plans to impose a ban on stacking cryptocurrencies for retail investors.
