The war between the Kraken crypto exchange and the U.S. SEC continues amid new statements from the platform.
As Bloomberg writes, citing a new letter from Kraken filed earlier this week, the exchange accuses the regulator of incorrectly formulating its arguments in the charges.
Kraken claims that the SEC used the terms investment “concept” and “ecosystem” instead of “investment contract” and “enterprise” several times in its arguments. According to the platform, the regulator could not identify any investment contracts that could be sold, brokered, or settled on Kraken.
The SEC previously noted, citing case law, that words themselves do not determine the type of security since actions are not limited to the obvious and trivial.
Last November, the SEC sued Kraken, alleging it operated without an appropriate license. The lawsuit states that Kraken has been operating illegally since 2018 as a securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency, earning hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, Kraken could mix its clients’ funds with its assets, potentially leading to losses on both sides.
The SEC’s filing asks that Kraken be permanently banned from operating as an unregistered exchange. In addition, the regulator announced the need to pay a fine and return part of the funds obtained illegally.
In June 2023, crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase faced similar SEC lawsuits. As with Kraken, both exchanges were accused of violating securities laws.
