ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the U.S. SEC against cryptocurrency founder Richard Heart. The founder was accused of illegally using millions of dollars of investor funds to purchase a 555-carat black diamond. The SEC alleged that Heart raised over $1 billion through the sale of unregistered securities, including Hex tokens and other digital assets related to his PulseChain blockchain network and PulseX decentralized finance platform. In the initial lawsuit, the agency stated that Heart and PulseChain used at least $12.1 million of investor funds for personal luxury purchases, including diamonds, expensive watches, and high-end cars. Judge Carol Amon found that the SEC failed to provide sufficient facts to prove that these actions occurred in the United States, allowing the SEC to amend its complaint to "correct the identified deficiencies."

ChainCatcher News, SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement saying that the SEC has officially withdrawn its civil enforcement action against Coinbase and will not take further action in this case. Peirce made it clear that she has never supported the case and criticized the SEC's previous reliance on enforcement actions to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, arguing that it harms the public interest in the United States, hinders industry development, and obstructs the normal functions of the SEC's professional policy team.Peirce pointed out that the SEC's broad application of the Howey test has led to regulatory ambiguity, making it difficult for compliant businesses to operate, while wrongdoers exploit regulatory gray areas to evade legal responsibilities. Furthermore, due to the lack of a clear regulatory framework, many cryptocurrency companies are forced to spend significant resources on legal defenses rather than on product innovation. She believes that the SEC's previous approach of making policy through enforcement not only misleads the industry but also prevents the policy team from effectively participating in the formulation of industry rules.She emphasized that the current SEC has established a "Crypto Task Force," empowering the policy team to take the lead in collaborating with the public to develop a regulatory framework applicable to the cryptocurrency industry. This withdrawal of the lawsuit does not mean that the SEC is abandoning enforcement; rather, it indicates that future regulation will focus on policy-making rather than solely relying on enforcement actions.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, DraftKings Inc. has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the sports entertainment company of violating state and federal securities laws in the sale of NFTs.According to the brief, the proposed settlement funds will be distributed to users who purchased, held, or sold DraftKings NFTs from August 11, 2021, until the judgment takes effect.

ChainCatcher news, U.S. court documents show that the SEC, along with Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry, has jointly filed a motion in the Southern District of New York Federal Court to suspend the SEC's fraud lawsuit against Sun and Tron to consider "potential resolutions."The documents indicate that suspending the lawsuit is in the interest of all parties, will not harm any party or the public, and can avoid a court ruling on Tron’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, thereby saving judicial resources. If the judge approves, the case will be suspended for 60 days, during which both parties must submit a joint status report.The SEC sued Sun and his affiliated companies in 2023, accusing them of market manipulation, fraud, and issuing unregistered securities. This application is similar to the SEC's handling of the Coinbase and Binance cases, which may indicate that both parties are approaching a settlement.

ChainCatcher news, following Coinbase and Robinhood, exchanges like Binance and Kraken may see a turnaround. The lawsuits against these platforms are based on the same regulatory logic as the Coinbase case, and the SEC's abandonment of the lawsuit will create a demonstration effect. Regulatory expert Amy Lynch stated that the enforcement of securities laws by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may also be "severely limited," partly due to the influence of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as DOGE may scrutinize the SEC's internal operations more closely and attempt to streamline the agency.

ChainCatcher news, according to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, in light of the recent attention from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on staking operations, the agency may reconsider the lawsuit filed against ConsenSys last year regarding its MetaMask staking service.Additionally, the SEC had previously accused ConsenSys of engaging in unregistered brokerage activities, but this accusation has now been withdrawn, similar to the dismissed charges in the Coinbase lawsuit.

ChainCatcher news, according to Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal in an interview, the U.S. SEC has agreed to dismiss its lawsuit and cannot refile it, and Coinbase has paid $50 million in legal fees for this case.

ChainCatcher news, according to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, the proceedings in the Ripple case are more complex compared to Coinbase. The reason is that Judge Torres has issued a $125 million fine at the district court level and will retain jurisdiction over the case until August 7, 2025.Even if the SEC chooses to withdraw its appeal in the Second Circuit, it will still need to reach a new agreement with the district court regarding the fine ruling and obtain Judge Torres's approval. A legal expert told Terrett that we are currently in "uncharted territory," and there is significant uncertainty regarding future developments.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jin10 reports, The Wall Street Journal analysis pointed out that cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase stated that the SEC intends to withdraw its lawsuit against the company, marking the end of years of strict enforcement by U.S. regulators on the cryptocurrency market.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. SEC is about to withdraw its lawsuit against Coinbase. This move could not only boost the market sentiment for cryptocurrencies previously labeled as securities but also bring benefits to trading platforms like Robinhood (HOOD).In June 2023, Robinhood was forced to delist several tokens that were accused of being securities by the SEC, but after Trump won the presidential election, the platform has re-listed some tokens, including Solana (SOL). The SEC's withdrawal of the lawsuit will reduce the regulatory risks for trading platforms when listing new tokens, potentially increasing their trading revenue.According to market data, the top five tokens accused of being securities by market capitalization include BNB, SOL, ADA, TRX, and TON. Additionally, several cryptocurrency companies, including Blockchain.com, BitGo, and Gemini, are considering going public (IPO) in the U.S.

ChainCatcher message, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced, "We have reached an agreement with SEC staff to dismiss their lawsuit against Coinbase. Once we receive approval from the commission (which we are told is expected next week), this will be a complete settlement with a payment of $0 in fines, and our business will remain unchanged."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has in principle agreed to withdraw the lawsuit against Coinbase, but final approval is still needed.

ChainCatcher news, according to Reuters, Nigerian authorities have filed a lawsuit against Binance, claiming $79.5 billion in economic losses and $2 billion in unpaid taxes. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) of Nigeria accuses Binance of operating illegally in the country.The Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria stated that Binance's operations in the country are illegal. Previously, in March 2024, the agency had sued Binance over four tax violation charges, including failure to pay corporate income tax and failure to submit tax returns.

ChainCatcher news, FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett stated that, according to several legal sources, the SEC has been prioritizing cases with court deadlines, which explains why we have not yet seen any pause requests in the Ripple and Kraken cases.Ripple's next court deadline is April 16, while Kraken's deadline appears to be March 31. The Binance case has been postponed to April 14, Lejilex's case to April 11, and Coinbase has agreed with the SEC to extend the deadline, allowing the SEC to respond to Coinbase's interim appeal request by March 14.SEC leadership may expect that Trump-nominated Chairman Paul Atkins will be confirmed by then. In the meantime, the cryptocurrency special working group, Congress, and the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets may be working to fill the regulatory gaps that led to the initial lawsuits.

ChainCatcher news, former SEC official John Reed Stark believes that the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase may be stillborn, as the newly established cryptocurrency working group of the regulator is seeking to resolve the previous enforcement actions against the exchange.In a post on X on February 17, Stark explained why the SEC requested a 28-day extension to respond to Coinbase's petition for permission to appeal. He stated, "According to an unprecedented joint motion spanning 3 pages, the SEC's review of cryptocurrency-related issues is 'ongoing,' and the extension will allow the SEC time for 'appropriate review' as it prepares its response to Coinbase's petition. In other words, the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase may already be over."Stark estimated that the SEC's lawsuit against Binance will also meet the same fate. He cited a joint motion submitted on February 11, where both parties believe that the SEC's special cryptocurrency working group "may influence and facilitate a potential resolution of this case." The same goes for Ripple, which has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the SEC since 2020, "It is expected that all cryptocurrency-related appeals, including the appeal in the Ripple case, will be paused, and it is even more likely to be completely withdrawn."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, court documents show that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suspended its lawsuit against the cryptocurrency mining company Geosyn Mining.The FBI's indictment states that these executives are accused of defrauding client funds by promising to purchase and host Bitcoin mining machines for clients, but instead misappropriating the funds for personal expenses. The SEC previously stated in its lawsuit that Ward and McNutt allegedly defrauded approximately 64 investors out of $5.6 million between November 2021 and December 2022.

ChainCatcher news, Shrapnel announced that its long-term legal dispute has made significant progress, with the litigation process entering its final stage, and a settlement or judgment is expected to be reached soon.As a result of this news, its token (SHRAP) has shown active market performance, with the price rapidly climbing from 0.01 USDT, reaching a high of 0.019 USDT during the session, an increase of 90%; the current price has retraced to around 0.015 USDT, with a cumulative increase of 60% over the past 24 hours.

ChainCatcher news, Binance's financial crime compliance officer Tigran Gambaryan recently reiterated that a rogue Nigerian lawmaker demanded a $150 million bribe in exchange for dropping the lawsuit against Binance. The relevant lawmaker wanted the funds to be transferred directly to their cryptocurrency wallet, using "fake cameras and media" to make the meeting with visiting Binance executives appear legitimate.In May 2024, reports emerged that Binance CEO Richard Teng accused members of the Nigerian House of Representatives Financial Crimes Committee (HCFC) of soliciting a $150 million bribe. At that time, Nigeria's Minister of Information Mohammed Idris denied the allegations, stating that it was a strategy by the company to "hurry to cover up the serious criminal charges it faces."However, Gambaryan insisted that this attempt was indeed conducted with the involvement of Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS). He also stated, "The Nigerian government has publicly claimed that there is $26 billion in mysterious funds (through Binance) flowing out of Nigeria, which is completely nonsense. This information was provided at their request; it is merely the cumulative trading data of Nigerians on the platform. This money did not flow out of Nigeria—people are just buying and selling cryptocurrency. For example, if you trade $100 a hundred times, that amounts to $10,000 in trading volume, but in reality, you only used $100. Similarly, this is just another example of their lies to cover up a false investigation."Just after Gambaryan shared these explosive details, Nigeria's Minister of Information Idris issued a statement denying them. However, the statement acknowledged the bribery allegations, but Idris pointed out that it was the Nigerian government that initiated the investigation, "even though no one has formally filed a lawsuit." His statement also revealed that the Nigerian government rejected a U.S. proposal to pay $5 million in exchange for Gambaryan's release.