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Tether, ICOs, Craig Wright – Attorney Divulges New Details on Billion Dollar Crypto Lawsuits

09/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

On April 3, the law firms Roche Cyrulnik Freedman and Selendy & Gay filed 11 class-action lawsuits against multiple digital currency exchanges and the issuers of certain initial coin offering (ICO) tokens. Entities like Block.one, Tron, Bancor, Status and numerous company executives are accused of selling unregistered securities. The lawsuits claim the exchanges “profited handsomely” from these token sales and the charges also allege manipulative conduct. Following the filings in the Southern District New York court on Friday, news.Bitcoin.com spoke with Roche Cyrulnik Freedman partner Kyle Roche about the class-action cases.

Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed

Attorney Kyle Roche Talks ICOs and Unregistered Securities

The cryptocurrency community was shocked to hear that 11 class-action lawsuits were filed against various crypto trading platforms and initial coin offering (ICO) and initial exchange offering (IEO) issuers. Defendants included in the class-action cases include well known industry players like Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Arthur Hayes, Brendan Blumer, Dan Larimer, and Vinny Lingham. Companies such as Kaydex, Quantstamp, Kucoin, HDR Global Trading, Bitmex, Bprotocol, Status, Block.one, Civic and Binance are named. Tokens mentioned in the lawsuit that are considered “unregistered securities” include ICX, OMG, EOS, BNT, SNT, QSP, KNC, TRX, FUN, LEND, ELF, and CVC.

News.Bitcoin.com had a chance to speak with Kyle Roche from the New York-based company Roche Cyrulnik Freedman about the new lawsuits. The litigation firm is involved with a number of cryptocurrency-related lawsuits, including the high-profile Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit and the class-action lawsuit against Bitfinex and Tether. The Kleiman v. Wright case is one of the most sought after court dockets in the state of Florida because it involves a man who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Roche’s law firm is representing the Kleiman estate and the value of the assets the Kleiman’s seek far exceed $5.1 billion before punitive or treble damages. Roche explained during our conversation that the Kleiman v. Wright case was sensitive and he could not speak much on the matter at this time.

The lawsuit that involves Ifinex, the parent company of Bitfinex and Tether, alleges that the stablecoin and exchange violated Sherman Antitrust Act laws. The Ifinex lawsuit filed by Roche’s law firm seeks a whopping $1.4 trillion before punitive or treble damages. In that class-action lawsuit, Roche and his litigation team represent David Leibowitz, Benjamin Leibowitz, Jason Leibowitz, Aaron Leibowitz, and Pinchas Goldshtein, “on behalf of all others similarly situated.” The Ifinex lawsuit says the companies involved were in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act.

During our interview, Roche touched upon the recent class-action lawsuits filed last Friday and why the plaintiffs decided to take action against the slew of token sale issuers, crypto exchanges, and executives.

Bitcoin.com (BC): Can you give our readers a short summary of the recent class-action lawsuits filed against 11 cryptocurrency businesses and executives?

Kyle Roche (KR): So last Friday, we filed 11 class-action lawsuits in the Southern District New York and there are two categories that these class actions fall into. On one hand, there are four class-actions against the exchanges and the other seven are against token issuers. Both the exchange and the issuer claims allege that the 11 defendants committed U.S. securities violations on a historic scale. It has become clear over time, and it wasn’t clear in the beginning based on representations made by the individuals. There was a lack of regulatory guidance and the whole ‘utility token’ concept where people were going around saying these coins were a utility token and not a security token.

There was a lot of confusion in the space and as time has elapsed we’ve seen that these tokens are securities and they were created through a centralized process. Specifically with the tokens that we have gone after that were created by the ERC20 protocol. The sale of those tokens here in the United States was the sale of unregistered securities.

BC: Do you think that governments and regulators like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have clearly defined the rules concerning ICO tokens and unregistered securities?

KR: The SEC brought a civil fine against Block.one and EOS for $24 million for the sale of tokens. That really was part of the standard in the work that we’re building on top of right now. I think that the SEC’s decision came more than two years after Block.one’s $4.1 billion initial coin offering (ICO) through EOS. What that decision shows is that those tokens were created through a centralized process and the tokens issued were securities and that Block.one is liable because they sold those securities here in the United States.

BC: Do you think that the plaintiffs will have jurisdiction issues with all these companies that are based in various locations around the world, some of which with less regulatory oversight?

KR: At the end of the day, the securities laws are meant to protect U.S. investors. These entities and groups, regardless of where they are incorporated, were availing themselves to U.S. markets and U.S. jurisdiction.

The law shows that if you are trying to benefit from the U.S. markets you have to play by the same set of rules.

BC: Your litigation firm has been dealing with cryptocurrencies in other lawsuits. Do you think your law firm has more expertise when it comes to dealing with crypto assets?

KR: I try to be humble, but I think our firm first and foremost has excellent litigators. We’re a new firm but we’ve all come from the best shops in New York and have been litigating for a long time. The way we built our brand is by taking cases that other firms think are too risky. Those are exactly the types of cases we want to be involved in because we think those types of cases create new laws and can help set good guidelines.

Specifically, within the cryptocurrency industry, we think it’s a natural fit for us. The other reason my practice focuses heavily on cryptocurrencies stems from my academic background, which is aligned with the cryptocurrency market. I have a lot of knowledge of the market and we represent a lot of companies doing great things in the cryptocurrency space. I’m a big believer in blockchain technology and its potential to disrupt in a positive force. However, people have to play by the same set of rules.

If you look at institutions like Coinbase and Gemini, they seem to be doing everything they can to comply with the regulations here in the U.S. Whereas other companies, some of them operating offshore, are trying to benefit from U.S. markets. These cases are important and I think they will be positive for the crypto industry.

BC: Has your firm been following other unregistered securities lawsuits like the class-action lawsuit against Ripple Labs and XRP tokens?

KR: There are certainly overlaps [with the Ripple case] and I think the decision that came down on that case was February 27. The case is helpful to us, but there are differences because Ripple wasn’t part of the 2017-2019 ICO bubble. Ripple’s been around since 2012 so there are similarities, but there are also some big differences in our cases.

BC: Are people seeking Roche Cyrulnik Freedman’s assistance because of the current cryptocurrency cases the law firm has been involved with so far?

KR: People have come to us because of our reputation and because of our abilities to explain this technology in court. I also encourage people who were affected by the 2017-2019 ICO trend to reach out to us. We’re interested in learning about others who have lost money from these ICOs, because it will be helpful to us during the litigation process.

With companies in the crypto industry that are actually trying to innovate, we also want to help them navigate the space and help them build disruptive financial products.

What do you think about the interview with Roche Cyrulnik Freedman partner Kyle Roche? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Tether, ICOs, Craig Wright – Attorney Divulges New Details on Billion Dollar Crypto Lawsuits appeared first on Bitcoin News.

ICO Crackdown: 11 Class-Action Lawsuits Filed Against Cryptocurrency Companies

05/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

A number of class-action lawsuits have been filed against various digital asset firms and exchanges on Friday. The U.S.-based “litigation boutique,” Roche Cyrulnik Freedman, filed the lawsuit for three plaintiffs in the Southern District of New York. All three lawsuits claim that organizations like the Tron Foundation, Bitmex, Binance, Bibox and Block.one allegedly sold unregistered securities to retail investors.

Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed

The Crypto Industry’s “Litigation Boutique” Files 11 Class-Action Lawsuits Against Various Digital Currency Firms

The New York law firm Roche Cyrulnik Freedman has been busy, as the attorneys have multiple high-profile lawsuits right now that stem from the crypto industry. The publication Bloomberg Law recently called the firm a “litigation boutique” that specializes in cryptocurrency cases. The two cases Roche Cyrulnik Freedman have been involved with before Friday’s filing include; the trillion-dollar lawsuit against Tether Limited and the Kleiman v. Wright court case. The case against the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright far exceeds $5.1 billion USD worth of BTC before punitive or treble damages.

Offshore Alert was the first to spot the lawsuits as the publication specializes in sharing information about offshore lawsuits, regulations, and other forms of litigation.

The class-action lawsuit filings were initiated by the defendants’ Eric Lee, Chase Williams, and Alexander Clifford. Court filings were found by the offshore news and research outlet, Offshore Alert, a think-tank that distinguishes themselves as offshore financial center experts. Crypto operations being sued by the plaintiffs include KayDex, Quantstamp, KuCoin, HDR Global Trading, BitMEX, Bprotocol, Status, Block.one, Civic and Binance. Developers and executives like Dan Larimer, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Vinny Lingham, Arthur Hayes, and Brendan Blumer are all mentioned in each court filing. The class-action lawsuits filed, mentions the allegation of “unlicensed activity” and the sale of unregistered securities through initial coin offerings (ICO) or initial exchange offerings (IEO).

Roche Cyrulnik Freedman has 15 lawyers and 12 of them stem from Boies Schiller. Bloomberg Law calls the law firm a “litigation boutique” and they also represent the Kleiman Estate against Craig Wright, and a trillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Tether Limited as well.

For example, the plaintiff Chase Williams’ class-action complaint against Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao says the exchange sold unregistered securities as digital tokens. Tokens named in the lawsuit include EOS, BNT, SNT, QSP, KNC, TRX, FUN, ICX, OMG, LEND, ELF, and CVC. All of the lawsuits were filed with the Southern District of New York court on April 3. There’s a total of 42 defendants named in the class-action suits and the individuals stem from countries like South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, the U.S., China, Seychelles, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands.

The 11 class-action lawsuit filings were initiated by Eric Lee, Chase Williams, and Alexander Clifford in the Southern District of New York’s courthouse.

Plaintiffs Say Centralization Was Not Apparent at Issuance to a Reasonable Investor

The plaintiffs and the litigation firm Roche Cyrulnik Freedman will likely have a difficult time battling jurisdictions. Moreover, there really hasn’t been a government standard or conclusion toward the unregistered securities argument thus far and regulators still seem up in the air. This has been the case with the ongoing Ripple lawsuit, which also alleges that XRP was sold as an unregistered security. In every one of the filings submitted on April 3 by Roche Cyrulnik Freedman, the allegations claim these token sales were completely centralized. The accusation against the Tron Foundation notes:

The creation of TRX tokens thus occurred through a centralized process, in contrast to Bitcoin and Ethereum. This, however, would not have been apparent at issuance to a reasonable investor. Rather, it was only after the passage of time and disclosure of additional information about the issuer’s intent, the process of management, and success in allowing decentralization to arise that a reasonable purchaser could know that he or she had acquired a security. Purchasers were thereby misled into believing that TRX was something other than a security, when it was a security.

Nobody knows how these 11 cases will turn out, but the crypto community is discussing the subject with great fervor. The attorney Stephen Palley who specializes in cryptocurrencies and litigation explained that the defendants will likely try to get the cases dismissed.

“These lawsuits will be dismissed by the defendants in press releases as ambulance-chasing lawsuit trolling,” Palley said. “But it’s not quite that black and white upon closer inspection,” the lawyer added.

What do you think about the lawsuits against 11 crypto companies? Let us know in the comments below.

The post ICO Crackdown: 11 Class-Action Lawsuits Filed Against Cryptocurrency Companies appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Where to Buy Bitcoin in India: Cryptocurrency Exchanges Lower Their Fees

05/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Where to Buy Bitcoin in India: Cryptocurrency Exchanges Just Lowered Their Fees

Since the supreme court lifted the RBI ban, more people have been looking to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in India. Responding to community feedback, a number of cryptocurrency exchanges have lowered their fees as the Indian crypto sector continues to grow.

Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed

Indian Crypto Exchanges Cutting Fees

The Indian crypto sector has been growing ever since the Supreme Court of India lifted the banking ban imposed by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). More people are now interested in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and local crypto exchanges are seeing increased trade volumes and signups, even during the nationwide lockdown.

One of the main factors why a user chooses one cryptocurrency exchange over another is the fee structure. Due to popular demand on social media, a number of crypto trading platforms have lowered their fees. Below are some popular bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges in India, as well as the fees they are charging.

Wazirx, a popular crypto exchange in the country, charges 0.1% when paid through WRX, CEO Nischal Shetty told news.Bitcoin.com. “We lowered our USDT fees to make it zero fees for transfer to Binance,” he detailed. “So effectively maximum users in India now enjoy 0 fee USDT transfer from Wazirx to Binance and for other withdrawals, the fee has been lowered to 1.5 USDT.” The CEO further shared, “We’re planning to lower withdrawal fees for other tokens as well over time.” Wazirx’s fees can be found here.

Zebpay, formerly one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, recently relaunched in the country. The exchange announced that starting Friday it is waiving “the normal 1.5% netbanking fee through April 10.” Furthermore, “users can trade BTC-USDT, ETH-USDT, XRP-USDT, ETH-BTC & TUSD-USDT with no trading fees this month.” The exchange currently charges a withdrawal fee of 0.00049 BTC. Zebpay’s fees can be found here.

Other Indian Exchanges With Competitive Fees

Some cryptocurrency trading platforms have already been focusing on offering competitive fees to their users. Popular Indian crypto exchange Coindcx charges 0.0005 BTC for withdrawals. CEO Sumit Gupta shared with news.Bitcoin.com: “We have been competitive since [the] start as a policy as we believe in crypto adoption. As we have been maintaining the best price, compared to some competitors, we didn’t have to bring the fees down.” Coindcx’s fees can be found here.

Unocoin, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, charges a fee of 0.7% to buy or sell bitcoin. Users can upgrade to a gold membership and the fee will drop to 0.5%. Unocoin’s fees can be found here.

Other well known cryptocurrency exchanges in India include Cashaa, Pocketbits, Giottus, and Bitbns. London-based banking platform Cashaa launched its Indian operations in October last year; its fees can be found here. Pocketbits advertises 0% trading fees and a BTC withdrawal fee of 0.0003 BTC; its fees can be found here. Giottus offers a BTC withdrawal fee of 0.0001 BTC, and the platform’s fee schedule can be found here. Bitbns charges a BTC withdrawal fee of 0.0005 BTC; its fees can be found here.

Furthermore, Indians can also use peer-to-peer marketplaces such as Localbitcoins and Paxful to buy and sell bitcoins directly from sellers in INR. They can also use local.Bitcoin.com to buy and sell BCH. India currently has no direct cryptocurrency regulation but the government is reportedly discussing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies with the central bank.

Which Indian crypto exchange do you like the most? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Where to Buy Bitcoin in India: Cryptocurrency Exchanges Lower Their Fees appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The Crypto Industry’s $400M Cash and Stock Deal – Binance to Acquire Coinmarketcap.com

31/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

The popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance is allegedly in talks with the owners of coinmarketcap.com in hopes of purchasing the website for $400 million. People familiar with the matter explained the acquisition will be announced this week and could be one of the largest procurements in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry to-date.

Also read: Bitcoin Mining Roundup: BTC Regains 100 Exahash, Miners Close Shop, Pre-Halving Shake-Up

Binance Will Reportedly Purchase Coinmarketcap.com for $400 Million

Binance has grown quite large since launching in 2017 when the global cryptocurrency exchange was founded by Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Yi He. The following year in 2018, the exchange was considered the largest in the world in terms of cryptocurrency trading volume. The firm has also acquired the Indian exchange Wazirx, the Beijing-based Dappreview, a derivatives exchange called JEX, Mars Finance, and a digital currency mobile wallet branch called Trust Wallet. Now according to people familiar with the matter, Binance is set to announce another acquisition and it might end up being the largest procurement in the crypto industry so far.

The official story floating around crypto-land is that Binance is close to completing a cash and stock deal with the owners of coinmarketcap.com. The website is one of the most popular cryptocurrency data sites and according to Alexa ratings, coinmarketcap.com is ranked 570 worldwide and 819 in the United States. Coinmarketcap (CMC) gets a lot of traffic from countries like the U.S., India, and Brazil as the site sees millions of users visiting the site regularly. The Binance acquisition of coinmarketcap.com is ostensibly a cash-and-stock deal that involves $400 million. Speculators assume that it will be the largest acquisition within the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry to date. For instance, the coinmarketcap.com transaction would be well over the capital injected into 21 Inc. ($121 million), otherwise known as earn.com.

CMC’s Data Discrepancies and the Crypto Community’s Commentary Concerning the Binance Takeover

Both Binance and coinmarketcap.com have not spoken to the media about the acquisition, but Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao did hint at some upcoming procurements that he was “very excited” about. Coinmarketcap has an interesting history as the owner Brandon Chez kept his identity unknown, up until he was doxxed by the Wall Street Journal on January 23, 2018. Chez also sat down for a fireside chat with the anonymous Sunny King last year during The Capital conference.

Coinmarketcap has had its share of controversy as well and a number of people do not trust the data that stems from the site. The crypto market cap aggregation website was criticized during the first week of January 2018 for delisting the exchange rates of South Korean crypto trading platforms. When cross-referencing coinmarketcap.com’s data with alternative crypto market valuation sites like messari.io, there’s some discrepancies when it comes to “reported” and “real” or onchain trade volumes.

After the Binance acquisition of coinmarketcap.com (CMC) stories hit social media and crypto forums, a great number of digital asset proponents discussed if it would be “good or bad” for CMC. “I don’t like it at all — I guess I’ll continue to use my favorite CMC alternatives,” one person tweeted after hearing the news.

“CMC has been bad for years — The amount of scams they’ve allowed to advertise on their site has been awful. Hopefully [Changpeng Zhao] changes that,” another crypto proponent added. A great number of the comments on Twitter were negative and many people talked about the relationship between Tron and Binance as well.

“Binance buying [coinmarketcap.com] — How long until BNB and Tron are #1 and #2 and Digibyte is delisted?” the Twitter account @Litecoinfam tweeted on Tuesday.

What do you think about the possibility of Binance acquiring coinmarketcap.com? Let us know in the comments below.

The post The Crypto Industry’s $400M Cash and Stock Deal – Binance to Acquire Coinmarketcap.com appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Safeguarding Investments: Cryptimi.com Offers the Solution

30/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

Anyone venturing into the digital currency scene understands the significance of performing analyses to evaluate potential gains. Security breaches and hacking are a constant risk when it comes to the realm of cryptocurrencies.

Nevertheless, the level of security and protection offered by the trading platform chosen is often overlooked. Consequently, this oversight has so far resulted in a loss of approximately $4.26 billion. Whenever scammers or hackers are successful in their fraudulent practices, this results in an average loss of $43 million.

2 Notorious Cases where Security Failed

Reputability and popularity do not guarantee protection from malicious behaviour. To fully understand the gravity of fraudulent activity and security breaches, one must keep in mind some of the most infamous security failures in recent history.

1. Bitfinex

Loss: 120,000BTC or $72 million in assets (2016)

Considered as one of the most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges globally with about two million users, Bitfinex sees billions of dollars’ worth of transactions daily. This successful exchange fell victim to a major hack back in 2016, having the amount of 120,000BTC stolen, which was equivalent to $72 million. In today’s prices, that would be a much higher figure. Bitfinex used to offer multi-signature wallets through BitGo, a feature created to enhance user security. However, 12 months after this component was introduced, the hack occurred.

The question was raised: what made Bitfinex susceptible to this fate? The way its accounts were structured was the first step towards security failure – to withdraw a large amount of funds, BitGo would likely have had to sign off transactions.

The hack caused Bitcoin’s market value to drop by a staggering 20%.

2. Binance

Loss: 7,000BTC or $40 million in assets (2019)

Binance is widely believed to be the world’s largest crypto exchange, based on trading volumes. Despite this, the exchange was not able to avoid a phishing scam or recognise the virus-type malware that was used to hack into it. The group of hackers got away with $40 million worth of Bitcoin.

In one of his blog posts, CEO Changpeng Zhao announced that Binance will make “significant changes to the API, 2FA, and withdrawal validation areas, which was an area exploited by hackers during this incident.” Zhao vowed to work on “more innovative ways” to prevent risks and improve KYC, whilst enhancing user and threat analysis,

Providing a Viable Solution

When looking into investing assets, finding a trusted source that provides detailed research and relevant information about cryptocurrencies and trading platforms is critical. Nowadays, there’s a smorgasbord of online resources – one never knows which to trust. Nevertheless, it is important to be selective when it comes to deciphering between a trustworthy source and one that gives little to no guidance.

Cryptimi.com provides information that examines aspects of payment methods, security, fees, and customer support. For the ultimate user experience, it even lists the latest reviewed and top-ranking cryptocurrency exchanges (with regular updates when positions shift), to make for a more reliable search. The user can customise the search by filtering results and specifying the preferred deposit method, jurisdiction, and the type of platform.

Doing the Legwork Before Taking the Plunge

Finding the best cryptocurrency exchange is imperative prior to venturing into any kind of financial investment. This holds true for both novice investors, and veteran traders. Both investors and traders should have a reliable point of reference when conducting their research.

A reputable reference site like Cryptimi equips the reader with all the right tools to take an informed step by constantly publishing trustworthy, unique, and relevant content.

Indubitably, cryptocurrency exchange platforms are an essential piece to the digital currency puzzle, because they are the link that allows individuals to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, before investing or trading on a new broker or exchange, one needs to ensure that the funds being invested will be utilised to their full potential. Fortunately, you can put both your mind and assets at rest with Cryptimi.com – your only go-to reference that guides you to your financial growth.

Contact Email Address
[email protected]

Supporting Link
http://cryptimi.com/

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

The post Safeguarding Investments: Cryptimi.com Offers the Solution appeared first on Bitcoin News.