TL;DR
- False reports claimed the SEC approved BlackRock’s BTC ETF, but the SEC cautioned against unverified sources.
- US attorney John E. Deaton criticized the SEC, referencing court opinions that have deemed the agency’s actions inconsistent.
- The SEC has had multiple legal confrontations with crypto entities, including losses to Ripple and Grayscale and lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.
The SEC is ‘Arbitrary and Capricious’
The breaking reports from yesterday (October 16), which indicated that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said “yes” to BlackRock’s application to launch a spot BTC ETF in America, triggered a price rally for the primary cryptocurrency and overall excitement in the entire sector.
However, the jolly was short-lived, with the news turning out to be fake. The regulator chipped in, warning X (Twitter) users to only believe in verified sources and not everything they read on the Internet.
John E. Deaton – a US attorney representing thousands of XRP investors in the lawsuit against the SEC – disagreed with the aforementioned statement, saying people should trust independent judges who oversee the watchdog, not the agency itself.
He claimed that an Appellate Court found the SEC to be “arbitrary and capricious.” According to him, the magistrates have also unanimously concluded that the regulator’s denial to approve a spot BTC ETF was “utter nonsense.”
“Finally, a federal judge in the SDNY called the SEC lawyers hypocrites and stated they lacked faithful allegiance to the law. So, when it comes to the SEC, I choose to listen to judges. And man, are they speaking loudly,” Deaton concluded.
SEC vs. Crypto Firms
America’s securities regulator has launched several legal battles with various cryptocurrency companies, and so far, it has been on the losing side.
Recall that Ripple secured two court wins in a row against the SEC: one in July and one earlier this month. Grayscale also managed to prevail after the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ordered the Commission to “vacate” its intention to reject the conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a spot ETF that tracks the performance of BTC.
In addition, the SEC sued two of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges – Binance and Coinbase – in June, accusing them of breaching certain laws and offering trading services with alleged unregistered securities such as BNB, SOL, MATIC, ADA, and others. Readers willing to learn more about those lawsuits can take a look at our video below:
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