Kraken crypto exchange fights back against SEC’s lawsuit

On Feb 23, 2024

Kraken lawmakers argued against SEC’s charges and provided facts to dismiss the suit.

Kraken is an averagely popular American crypto exchange. This crypto company was the first to get listed on Bloomberg Terminal. In Jan 2023, Kraken was sued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its crypto-staking services. Later this company settled the case with a $30 million fine as well as terminated its crypto staking services for American customers.

Today we charged Kraken with failing to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program, whereby investors transfer crypto assets to Kraken for staking in exchange for advertised annual investment returns of as much as 21 percent.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) February 9, 2023

In Nov 2023, The US SEC filed a suit against Kraken and alleged that Kraken did not register as a broker, clearinghouse, or exchange and also accused the company of mixing customer and corporate funds.

We charged Payward Inc. and Payward Ventures Inc., together known as Kraken, with operating Kraken’s crypto trading platform as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) November 21, 2023

In the latest, Kraken filed a motion in the court against SEC’s suit to dismiss SEC’s charges.

According to Kraken, all the crypto assets trading on the Kraken platform should be treated as commodity assets, not security.

Bullish sentiments for Shiba Inu ($SHIB) token rise…

Dec 21, 2024

Hacker succeeded in hacking the WazirX crypto wallet…

Dec 21, 2024

Bitcoin Plunges 10% in One Day – Is This the Start…

Dec 20, 2024

(6/10) Today, Kraken is moving to dismiss the complaint. It was timed to intimidate those who would question the SEC’s jurisdiction, and it fails to allege any securities were traded on Kraken, illegally or otherwise.
— Dave Ripley (@DavidLRipley) February 23, 2024

Furthermore, Kraken argued that none of the listed crypto assets are deemed as security tokens by the SEC and also Howey Test is not a sufficient tool to identify the exact nature of cryptocurrencies.

Kraken vs Binance

Kraken & Binance are known as the two biggest rivals against each other. Kraken executives remain ready to criticize the Binance crypto exchange.

Just a few months back, Kraken’s Jesse Powel supported the SEC body for the lawsuit action against Binance and called the move the best decision against illegal activities. Indirectly he said that Binance provided crypto services illegally in the US & this was the reason behind multiple enforcement actions.

Now all the major crypto exchanges Kraken, Binance, & Coinbase are under a single umbrella to object SEC’s blind enforcement actions.