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☆ The curious cases of the nonexistent silver coins, vanishing crypto, and stones in place of nickel – 3 bizarre investment frauds of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Joseph Wilkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As in previous years, the world of investments has continued to see several frauds and scandals come to light in 2023. Some of the more peculiar cases involved missing silver coins, untraceable crypto, and bags filled with stones instead of nickel. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalyis has sounded the alarm on a possible inside-job by members of staff – linking the disappearance of its founder with the missing coins. London Metal Exchange-approved contracts are regarded as the gold standard for metal investors and this mix-up called the security of the prestigious market into question. Read more: Over half a million silver coins just vanished – now the metals dealer behind the 'fraudulent' scheme must pay $146 million

Persons: Robert Leroy Higgins, Higgins, Multichain, Read Organizations: Service, Eagle, Asset, Depository Company, CFTC, JPMorgan, London Metal Exchange Locations: Wall, Silicon, Rotterdam, Netherlands

☆ Former Celsius CEO arrested, company agrees to pay $4.7 billion settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was arrested Thursday on federal securities fraud charges, a source told CNBC as the bankrupt crypto exchange agreed to pay a $4.7 billion settlement with government regulators. Federal prosecutors also charged Mashinsky with securities, commodities, and wire fraud, as well as various securities manipulation and fraud charges. Both the charging documents from New York federal prosecutors and the SEC complaint also describe Celsius' exchange token as a security. Earlier this year, New York prosecutors accused Mashinsky of orchestrating a $20 billion fraud against investors. CNBC previously reported on pervasive, yearslong issues that plagued the crypto exchange well before it filed for bankruptcy in 2022.

Persons: Alex Mashinsky, Roni Cohen, Pavon, Mashinsky Organizations: CNBC, SEC, Meta, FTC Locations: New York

There are also some voluntary credits for mechanically removing CO2 directly from the air, which are currently much more expensive. In June, the CFTC—the federal regulator of derivatives—created an environmental task force focused on rooting out fraud in carbon markets. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS How can we build trust in carbon offsets? A parallel effort by the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative, or VCMI, is setting rules for the buyers of offsets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has created an environmental task force focused on rooting out fraud in carbon markets and has called on whistleblowers to expose misconduct.

Persons: don’t, Nestlé, ”, Danny Cullenward, John Kerry, Morgan Stanley, Perrier, San, Ian McGinley, hasn’t, Guy Turner, ” Turner, andrew kelly, Mark Kenber, ” Kenber, William McDonnell, ” McDonnell, Dieter Holger Organizations: Futures Trading Commission, Sustainable Business, Institute, Carbon, American University . “, European Union, American University “, Paris Agreement, Council, Voluntary, Initiative, Trove, Futures, Reuters, dieter.holger Locations: U.S, San Pellegrino, Paris

☆ We strongly support enforcement of the law, says Fmr. CFTC Chair on crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWe strongly support enforcement of the law, says Fmr. CFTC Chair on crypto regulation'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer sits down with former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad to talk crypto regulation and what options the U.S. has.

Persons: Fmr, Jim Cramer, Timothy Massad

☆ Jim Cramer goes one-on-one with Fmr. CFTC Chair Timothy Massad on a path forward for crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Jim Cramer goes one-on-one with Fmr. CFTC Chair Timothy Massad on a path forward for crypto regulation'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer sits down with former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad to talk crypto regulation and what options the U.S. has.

Persons: Jim Cramer, Timothy Massad Organizations: Fmr

SINGAPORE, July 10 (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped in Asian trade on Monday as investors tread cautiously ahead of fresh economic data from top consumers the United States and China this week, though expected crude supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia limited losses. "Oil traders may be cautious ahead of the U.S. CPI and China's slew of economic data later this week," CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said. However, crude prices could rebound after OPEC+ announced plans to further reduce supply, she said. "The presence of economic slowdowns in China adds to the prevailing uncertainty in the oil market," said Mukesh Sahdev, head of downstream and oil trading at Rystad Energy. U.S. oil rigs fell by five to 540 last week, lowest since April 2022, according to a Baker Hughes report on Friday.

Persons: Tina Teng, China's, Mukesh Sahdev, Morgan, Tony Sycamore, Baker Hughes, Florence Tan, Emily Chow, Tom Hogue, Stephen Coates Organizations: Brent, U.S . West Texas, U.S . CPI, CMC, Rystad Energy, OPEC, Federal Reserve, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, United States, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.S, Saudi, Ain Sukhna, OPEC

☆ Former CFTC chairman says crypto regulations can't wait until litigations concludes: 'We need standards today'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Massad, along with former SEC chairman Jay Clayton, detailed the theory in the Wall Street Journal last week. "We strongly support enforcement of the laws, but what we're saying is, we need more than that, and the reason is twofold," Massad said. "Let's not get hung up on that, or rather, let's have a parallel track which says, regardless of the classification issue, we need standards today." He added that this solution would be a way to get some basic industry standards in place without having to rewrite securities laws. "This is a way to get investor protection standards into the industry as it exists today without having to fundamentally change the securities or the derivatives laws."

Persons: Timothy Massad, CNBC's Jim Cramer, Jay Clayton, Massad Organizations: Futures Trading Commission, SEC

☆ Analysis: U.S. crypto lobbyists court Democrats in fresh legislative push
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Michelle Price | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

That effort escalated last month when the SEC sued crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance for failing to register some crypto tokens. Most crypto companies dispute the SEC's jurisdiction. It would expand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) oversight of the crypto industry, while clarifying the SEC's jurisdiction. With Democrats' support, the bill could have a shot in the Senate. McHenry and Thompson are discussing the proposal with crypto companies, regulators and Democrats, and hope the committees will vote on it before the August recess, senior Republican policy staff said.

Persons: Cody Carbone, Patrick McHenry, Glenn Thompson, Brett Quick, McHenry, Thompson, Maxine Waters, David Scott, Scott, Vicente Gonzalez, Sylvia Garcia, Carbone, Spokespeople, Waters, Gonzalez, Garcia, Sam Bankman, Fried, Kristin Smith, Coinbase, spender, Kara Calvert, It's, Michelle Price, Hannah Lang, Douglas Gillison, Richard Chang Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Capitol, Blockchain Association, Chamber of Digital Commerce, Crypto, Innovation, Coinbase, Financial Services, Agriculture, Trading, Republican, Thomson Locations: Washington, United States

☆ CFTC investigators conclude Celsius, ex-CEO broke rules - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 5 (Reuters) - Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigators have concluded that bankrupt crypto lender Celsius and its former CEO Alex Mashinsky broke U.S. rules before the firm's implosion, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. Attorneys in the regulator's enforcement unit determined that Celsius misled investors and should have registered with the regulator, according to the report, citing people familiar with the matter. Celsius and the CFTC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Last year's market turmoil after the collapse of TerraUSD led to the failure of several major crypto companies including Celsius Network. As part of Celsius' bankruptcy case, an independent examiner was appointed to investigate accusations that Celsius had operated as a Ponzi scheme and report on how it handled crypto assets.

Persons: Alex Mashinsky, TerraUSD, Akanksha, Rashmi Organizations: Futures Trading Commission, Bloomberg, CFTC, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Over half a million silver coins just vanished – now the metals dealer behind the 'fraudulent' scheme must pay $146 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Joseph Wilkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A precious metals dealer has been asked to pay up $146 million in damages after over half a million silver coins went missing. Robert Higgins ran a "fraudulent and deceptive scheme" linked to the purchase and sale of precious metals, the CFTC said. From 2014 to 2022, Higgins led a 'fraudulent silver leasing program' that took deposits from almost 200 customers. Higgins ran a "fraudulent and deceptive scheme", and was ordered to pay $113 million to clients and $33 million in penalties, according to the CFTC. The precious metals industry has seen a series of scams in recent times.

Persons: Robert Higgins, Higgins, —, Prateek Gupta Organizations: Service, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Asset, Depository Company, US Treasury, London Metal Exchange Locations: Delaware, Rotterdam, Singapore

☆ Analysis: Bond markets reckon a central bank policy error is on the cards
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Yoruk Bahceli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

"We are positioned for a very big bond rally, and we think that risky assets are completely underestimating the risk of a recession or something nasty happening," he added. (.MERW0G1)An early sign that the bond outlook is improving came last week with data showing euro zone business growth stalled in June. In response, German bond yields, which move inversely to prices, posted their second biggest daily drop since March. But highlighting how hard economic data has become to read, higher-than-expected U.S. first quarter growth and German inflation sent yields surging on Thursday. Major central banks fighting a surge in inflation have collectively raised borrowing costs by over 3,750 bps since September 2021.

Persons: Jason Reed, Mike Riddell, Viraj Patel, Vanda's Patel, BoE, Urban, Jill Hirzel, Dhara Ranasinghe, Harry Robertson, Catherine Evans Organizations: U.S . Federal, REUTERS, Bond, U.S, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Reuters, Allianz Global Investors, Vanda Research, Deutsche Bank, General Investment Management, Insight Investment, Thomson Locations: Washington, hawkish, Canada, Britain, Norway, Sintra, Germany, United States, U.S

A short position is essentially a wager an asset's price will fall, and a long position a bet it will rise. Funds expanded their already record net short two-year Treasuries futures position to more than 1 million contracts for the first time. The scale of the move lately is remarkable - the net short position has more than doubled in just two months. Notably, funds' net short two-year Treasuries position now exceeds their net short 10-year Treasuries position by some 354,000 contracts. Reuters ImageIf this is indeed hedge funds betting on an inverted 2s/10s yield curve, they are sitting pretty.

Persons: that's, Jamie McGeever, Tom Hogue Organizations: U.S, Futures Trading Commission, Reuters, Barclays, Thomson Locations: ORLANDO, Florida, U.S . Federal, U.S, York

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.16 to $71.78. Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said it was "realistic" to reach oil prices of around $80 per barrel, Russian state news agencies reported. Capping oil price gains was the prospect of rising interest rates, which could slow economic growth. The Bank of England is set to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point next week. Investors have been closely watching interest rates and commentary from Fed members.

Persons: Brent, Nikolai Shulginov, Shulginov, Baker Hughes, Phil Flynn, Stephanie Kelly, Alex Lawler, Sudarshan, David Goodman, Louise Heavens, David Evans, David Gregorio, Nick Macfie Organizations: bbl Bank of England, . West Texas, Oil, Kuwait Petroleum, Organization of, Petroleum, Russian Energy, Bank of England, European Central Bank, U.S . Federal, Price Futures, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Thomson Locations: Russia, U.S, OPEC, Saudi Arabia, Russian, Iran

☆ Bitcoin and ether stand ground this week while altcoins tumble on the SEC's Coinbase crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Coinbase shares fell more than 17% over the course of the week. The market cap of crypto 'securities' fell CryptoQuant's "SECurities" index fell about 14% following the lawsuit, while the market cap of bitcoin and ether has basically remained flat. JMP noted that in the "securities" the SEC named, bitcoin and ether, which represented 55% of Coinbase's trading volume in the first quarter, were excluded. Coinbase saw outflows of about 20 million of Polygon's matic token Tuesday afternoon, trading at about 73 cents by the end of the week. The popular gaming token Axie Infinity, trading at about $6, saw outflows of about 32,000 coins Monday afternoon.

Persons: Coinbase, Bitcoin, Jefferies, They're, Binance Organizations: SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Metrics, U.S, Sports Locations: U.S, Solana, Cardano, Coinbase

☆ Circle Hires Former CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert as Legal Chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones, 523a70d9 Organizations: cftc

NEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency operator Circle Internet Financial said on Thursday it has hired Heath Tarbert, former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as the its chief legal officer and head of corporate affairs, effective July 1. Tarbert, a former corporate attorney and senior Treasury Department official, more recently worked for electronic trading firm Citadel Securities. Boston-based Circle, the issuer of stablecoin USDC, in December decided to end a $9 billion deal to merge with blank-check firm Concord Acquisition Corp . "As we continue building a bridge between traditional finance and Web3, Heath's perspective, legal acumen and global regulatory experience will help us advance the utility value of USDC worldwide," Jeremy Allaire, chief executive officer of Circle, said in a statement. Reporting by John McCrank; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Heath Tarbert, Tarbert, Jeremy Allaire, John McCrank, Chizu Organizations: YORK, Futures Trading Commission, CFTC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Treasury Department, Citadel Securities ., Concord, Corp, Thomson Locations: U.S, Citadel Securities . Boston

Companies Binance Labs FollowWASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order to freeze the U.S. assets of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In the motion, the SEC accused Binance of years of violative conduct, including "disregard" for U.S. laws and "evasion of regulatory oversight." Binance said the SEC's motion only concerned Binance.US. After the SEC filed the motion, Binance.US said its user assets would remain safe and the platform would continue normal deposit and withdrawal operations. Binance is also facing U.S. legal actions by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Justice Department.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Kanishka Singh, Tim Ahmann, Richard Chang Organizations: Labs, WASHINGTON, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, U.S, District of Columbia, SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Justice Department, Thomson Locations: Cayman Islands, U.S

June 6 (Reuters) - Investors have pulled around $1.43 billion from the crypto exchange Binance and its U.S. affiliate as of 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, data firm Nansen said, a day after a top U.S. regulator sued both exchanges. Binance saw net outflows of $1.34 billion of crypto tokens on the ethereum blockchain, with its U.S. affiliate, Binance.US, registering net outflows of $70.8 million, Nansen tweeted. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and the operator of Binance.US over what it called a "web of deception" to evade U.S. laws. The SEC complaint is the latest in a series of legal headaches for Binance.

Persons: Nansen, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Tony Sycamore, Binance's BNB cryptocurrency, Zhao, Tom Wilson, Rae Wee, Ankur Banerjee, Kevin Buckland, Hannah Lang, Sonali Paul, Tom Hogue, Nick Zieminski, Louise Heavens Organizations: U.S, Binance.US, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Monday, SEC, Reuters, IG Markets, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Thomson Locations: U.S, London, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington

The exchange offers spot and derivatives trading and a host of services from non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to crypto loans and asset management. FINANCESBinance's global trading platform, Binance.com, is by far the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange. Last year it processed crypto trades worth about $65 billion a day, Binance said, dominating the crypto trading landscape with more than half of the market, CryptoCompare data shows. Binance last year extended its reach beyond the crypto sector in 2022, investing $500 million in Tesla boss Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. A top Binance executive told the Wall Street Journal in February that the company expected to pay penalties to resolve U.S. investigations.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Binance, Zhao, Yi He, Yi, Noah Perlman, Morgan Stanley, Richard Teng, Teng, Elon Musk's, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Wilson, Hannah Lang, Marguerita Choy, Nick Zieminski Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Binance, Reuters, Twitter, Lazio, Argentina national, of Nations, U.S, Justice, Wall Street, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, U.S, Shanghai, Tokyo, Malta, Cayman Islands, Canadian, China, United States, Italian, London, Washington

☆ Timothy Massad: 'There are huge risks of fraud and manipulation' on crypto trading platforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Timothy Massad: 'There are huge risks of fraud and manipulation' on crypto trading platformsTimothy Massad, former CFTC chairman, joins 'Ma Money' host Jim Cramer to talk the Binance lawsuit launched by the SEC and where he finds issue in the current state of the crypto space.

Persons: Timothy Massad, Jim Cramer Organizations: SEC

☆ Former CFTC chairman says crypto needs investor protections and a whole new industry trading framework
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

According to Massad, the government and the Securities and Exchange Commission must create a new industry framework that protects investors, prevents fraud and manipulation, and finally answers the contentious question: are digitized tokens securities? One of the largest issues in crypto concerns wash trading, which is when someone trades with themselves or affiliates to mislead others about stock performance. Massad said this type of fraud accounts for 50% to 90% of the trading on crypto platforms. "And these trading platforms, most of them do have their own proprietary trading operations, which they shouldn't have." So, again, there are some questions about where do we really want to go, but we've got to have much better investor protection."

Persons: Timothy Massad, CNBC's Jim Cramer, Massad, Cramer, Binance, Coinbase, Jay Powell, we've Organizations: Futures Trading Commission, Securities and Exchange, SEC, Federal

☆ Binance hit by outflows of $790 million in last 24 hours, data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Investors have pulled around $790 million from the crypto exchange Binance and its US affiliate in the last 24 hours, data firm Nansen said Tuesday, a day after a top US regulator sued both exchanges. Binance saw net outflows of $778.6 million of crypto tokens on the ethereum blockchain, with its US affiliate, Binance.US, registering net outflows of $13 million, Nansen tweeted. The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and the operator of Binance.US over what it called a “web of deception” to evade US laws. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was last at $25,723, flat on the day but pinned near a more than two-month low. The SEC complaint is the latest in a series of legal headaches for Binance.

Persons: Nansen, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, “, ”, Tony Sycamore, Binance’s BNB cryptocurrency, Zhao Organizations: Binance.US, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Monday, SEC, Reuters, IG Markets, US, Futures Trading Commission

☆ Timothy Massad: crypto risk 'isn't just about the token' it's about the 'platform you're trading on'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailTimothy Massad: crypto risk 'isn't just about the token' it's about the 'platform you're trading on'Timothy Massad, former CFTC chairman, joins 'Ma Money' host Jim Cramer to talk the Binance lawsuit launched by the SEC and where he finds issue in the current state of the crypto space.

Persons: Timothy Massad, Jim Cramer Organizations: SEC

LONDON/SINGAPORE, June 6 (Reuters) - Investors have pulled around $790 million from the crypto exchange Binance and its U.S. affiliate in the last 24 hours, data firm Nansen said on Tuesday, a day after a top U.S. regulator sued both exchanges. Binance saw net outflows of $778.6 million of crypto tokens on the ethereum blockchain, with its U.S. affiliate, Binance.US, registering net outflows of $13 million, Nansen tweeted. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao and the operator of Binance.US over what it called a "web of deception" to evade U.S. laws. The world's biggest cryptocurrency was last at $25,723, flat on the day but pinned near a more than two-month low. The SEC complaint is the latest in a series of legal headaches for Binance.

Persons: Nansen, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Tony Sycamore, Binance's BNB cryptocurrency, Zhao, Tom Wilson, Rae Wee, Ankur Banerjee, Kevin Buckland, Sonali Paul, Tom Hogue, Louise Heavens Organizations: LONDON, U.S, Binance.US, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Monday, SEC, Reuters, IG Markets, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, U.S, London, Singapore, Tokyo

☆ Crypto crackdown: Is there anywhere safe left for crypto investors in the US?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“Look, we don’t need more digital currency,” Gensler told CNBC on Tuesday. “We already have digital currency: It’s called the US dollar. Many crypto investors appear to be abandoning so-called “alt-coins” and sticking with the relatively more reliable OG virtual currency, wrote Ed Moya, a senior market analyst with Oanda. Bottom line: “The SEC looks like it is playing Whac-A-Mole with crypto exchanges,” Moya wrote. Because of that, crypto investors will have to decide whether they are confident that the offerings on various exchanges will remain available to trade.

Persons: CNN Business ’, Binance, ”, Matt Levine, I’ll, Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, Gary Gensler, ” Gensler, “, It’s, Crypto, TD Cowen, Reena Aggarwal, Aggarwal, bitcoin, Ed Moya, ” Moya, —, you’ll Organizations: CNN Business, New York CNN, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, CNBC, Georgetown, Psaros, Financial Markets, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Oanda Locations: New York, United States, “, cryptos

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