Crypto Weekly Recap: US SEC Continues Crack Down on Shady Crypto

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The first week of the year was a busy one for the cryptocurrency market. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is continuing to crack down on dubious crypto activities. Meanwhile, a Kraken report revealed a spike in request for information from law enforcement agencies.

The US SEC reportedly plans to continue its close monitoring of the crypto market this year but will do so in a more cordial manner. According to the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, it will look at crypto this year as more of a legal financial niche and not just a place for scams, black markets, and illicit drug deals.

The news that the SEC is going to be more accepting of cryptocurrencies came on the heels of a New York district judge denying the commission’s request for Telegram’s bank records. The SEC and Telegram are currently at odds, with the former claiming the latter has illegally sold securities thru the Telegram Open Network and the GRAM digital currency.

The court’s decision is only temporarily though, and Telegram is mandated to show specific financial details. But these will be in accordance to foreign data privacy policies.

The SEC also settled a long-standing case against Longfin this week. The SEC charged the company and its CEO Venkata Meenavalli of fraud last year. The fintech company publicized itself as crypto company when it was not. Meenavalli and the SEC have agreed to a settlement wherein he will pay $400,000 worth of fines and a permanent ban on holding any position with a public company.

Meanwhile, crypto exchange platform Kraken’s yearly report on company activity and transparency revealed that it has received more requests for private details on particular users. The requests were made by law enforcement agencies around the world. Kraken reportedly received 710 requests in 2019. It’s a staggering number when compared to the 475 from 2018.

XRP finally pushed past the $0.20 level this week. Ripple’s currency broke resistance on the upside of the previous trading level. The token went up 24% to gain resistance at the 100-days EMA at $0.2345. However, it eventually dropped to the $0.20 level where it established support.

Ethereum (ETH) went through a rally this week. It advanced by 5.08% on Friday. It was a welcome movement after its 2% drop on Thursday. The ETH fell to an intraday low of $135.26 in the early morning before hitting an intraday high at $144.33. It’s currently down 1.62% to $142.37.