The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating crypto-payments company Circle. The crypto firm disclosed through a regulatory filing that it received an “investigative subpoena” from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division in July.
Circle under the radar of the SEC since July
In the July callCircle has announced its plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition vehicle, known as SPAC. She continued that the Securities and Exchange Commission was requesting “documentation and information relating to certain of our properties, client programs and operations,” while also revealing that “we are cooperating fully with their investigation.”
new regulatory deposit By Circle on October 4 It appears that the investigation is still ongoing because the filings are in the same language. Although the first announcement has gone largely unnoticed, the new disclosure makes clear how long it will take the financial regulator to regulate the “unregulated” crypto space.
The investigations may not be unrelated to the press release issued at the time which showed Circle was planning to offer a return program to institutional investors based in the United States and Switzerland. This payout program is much higher than what Coinbase offers which has alarmed the regulator.
Circle revealed that its stablecoin reserve, USDC, was held mostly in cash and cash equivalents while the rest was held in commercial paper, treasury and bond accounts.
Interestingly, the crypto company agreed to pay a $10 million commission earlier in the year on its role as an unregistered cryptocurrency exchange for Poloniex.
Gary Gensler’s SEC On The Tail Of Cryptography
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the leadership of Gary Gensler has repeatedly revealed its intention to regulate the crypto space. In one of his recent interviews, the committee chair urged cryptocurrency exchanges to register with the regulator.
However, recent events and discoveries point to how the SEC is approaching the cryptocurrency industry as it seeks to place it within a “public policy framework.”
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