SEC Swoops in To Classify 9 Tokens as Securities in Complaint Against Former Coinbase Employee for Insider Trading

Summary:

• The SEC has gone after a former Coinbase employee accused of insider trading, filing a complaint against him, his brother, and his friend with the US District Court Western District of Washington, Seattle.
• The complaint describes digital tokens as being crypto asset securities.
• Nine tokens mentioned in the complaint include AMP, RLY, DDX, XYO, RGT, LCX, POWR, DFX, and KROM.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has classified nine digital tokens as crypto asset securities in a new complaint with the US District Court Western District of Washington, Seattle, against a former Coinbase employee, his brother, and his friend, for using confidential crypto listing information to carry out illegal insider trading.

Ishan Wahi is the former Coinbase employee listed as the first defendant in the complaint; his brother Nikhil Wahi is the second defendant; Sameer Ramani is the third.

The SEC States Insider Trading Involved Certain ‘Crypto Asset Securities’ Listed by Coinbase.

The SEC’s complaint also states that the ‘case involves insider trading in certain crypto asset securities that Coinbase Global, Inc. (“Coinbase”) announced would be “listed,” or made available to trade, on its crypto
asset trading platform.’

The complaint by the SEC provides the following definition for a Crypto asset security:

A digital token or crypto asset is a crypto asset security if it meets the definition of a security, which the Securities Act defines to include “investment contract,” i.e., if it constitutes an investment of money, in a common enterprise, with a reasonable expectation of profit derived from the efforts of others.

9 Tokens Mentioned in the SEC Complaint.

In addition, the SEC complaint against the trio explains that they profited from early knowledge that Amp (AMP), Rally (RLY), DerivaDAO (DDX), XYO, Rari Governance Token (RGT), LCX, Powerledger (POWR), DFX Finance (DFX), and Kromatika (KROM) would be listed on Coinbase’s platforms.

According to the SEC, these nine tokens fit the above description for crypto asset securities.

SEC Demands a Jury for the Case.

Furthermore, the complaint by the SEC against the trio requests a standard jury to deliberate on the proceedings and provide a verdict as to whether Ishan Wahi, Nikhil Wahi, and Sameer Ramani ‘acted with an intent to deceive, manipulate, or defraud, and knew or were reckless in not knowing that their conduct was deceptive.’

[Feature image courtesy of istockphoto.com]

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