SEC targets Coinbase, Do Kwon arrested, FTX’s $95M in Mysten…

Top Stories This Week

Coinbase could face SEC enforcement action for ‘potential violations of securities law’

Crypto exchange Coinbase received a Wells notice from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggesting an upcoming enforcement action. According to Coinbase, the “legal threat” could potentially target its staking program, listed digital assets, wallet or Coinbase Prime services. The exchange’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said the warning “comes after Coinbase provided multiple proposals to the SEC about registration over the course of months, all of which the SEC ultimately refused to respond to.” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong renewed calls for crypto users to “elect pro-crypto candidates” after the development.

FTX debtors agree to $95M sale of stake in Mysten Labs

As bankruptcy proceedings for FTX move forward, debtors of the defunct crypto exchange have approved an agreement seeking to sell $95 million worth of its preferred stock in Mysten Labs, the company behind the Sui blockchain. Court approval is still pending, as is the potential for other bids on the stocks. In a related headline, FTX is seeking to recover $460 million of allegedly misappropriated customer funds from venture capital firm Modulo Capital, which received a sizeable investment from Alameda Research last year. The investment was reportedly directed by Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces multiple counts in federal court related to alleged fraud during his time as CEO.

Do Kwon faces fraud charges from US prosecutors hours after arrest

Just hours after being arrested in Montenegro, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon was charged with eight separate counts by United States prosecutors in New York, including commodities fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud and engage in market manipulation. According to reports, Kwon is also facing criminal charges in Montenegro for allegedly forging travel documents. Prosecutors in South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in September last year, followed by a red notice listing from Interpol weeks later. The charges laid against him are in relation to his alleged role in the collapse of the $40 billion Terra Luna Classic token and TerraClassicUSD stablecoin in May 2022.

Mastercard to settle transactions for stablecoin wallet in APAC

Mastercard is launching a stablecoin digital wallet integration to allow retail customers in the Asia-Pacific region to spend U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The international payment company plans to convert the USDC stablecoin into fiat and settle on its network by partnering with Australian stablecoin platform Stables. The service will be initially available for users based in Australia before expanding to Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom and most of the Asia-Pacific.

Celsius custody account holders can receive 72.5% of their crypto, says bankruptcy judge

The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case for crypto lending firm Celsius Network has approved a settlement plan that allows custody account holders to get back 72.5% of their crypto assets. Holders will have 30 days to review the terms. If they opt in, the assets will be returned in two distributions — 36.25% up front and 36.25% upon plan resolution (or at end of year). The defunct platform announced in February that NovaWulf Digital Management would act as a sponsor for its restructuring plan, claiming that more than 85% of Celsius customers would recover roughly 70% of their crypto..

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $27,157, Ether (ETH) at $1,734 and XRP at $0.41. The total market cap is at $1.15 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Mask Network (MASK) at 24.22%, Flare (FLR) at 22.23% and XRP (XRP) at 11.89%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Arbitrum (ARB) at -89.76%, Immutable (IMX) at -25.82% and Toncoin (TON) at -15.12%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.