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Comment by belter | Hacker News Reader

Why do I think this comment will age like spoiled milk?

"Coinbase, Kraken Under Investigation by US Regulators" - https://bitcoinmagazine.com/legal/coinbase-kraken-face-us-in...

"Kraken Pauses Deposits, Withdrawals As Investigation On Fidor Bank Funding Continues" - https://thedeepdive.ca/kraken-pauses-deposits-withdrawals-as...

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"for allegedly listing unregistered securities"

Hasn't coinbase repeatedly asked the SEC which tokens were securities and have yet to get answer... I don't think SEC strong arming is any indication of shadiness.

What I find fascinating is that CFTC claims Ethereum is a commodity.

Meanwhile SEC says Ethereum is a security. Specially after the move to PoS.

It doesn’t seem they can even agree with each other.

Why not? Gold is both a commodity and a security (think gold ETFs).

This logic seems like wishful thinking that people can't get rekt by both the SEC and CFTC, they can.

But each of those is a separate thing. Gold the commodity is traded and regulated differently than a gold ETF. Just because they’re both related to the metal does not mean a single regulatory body has dominion over both.

The answer is all of them except maybe Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The legality of all this isn’t confusing to anyone it’s just that they don’t like that answer.

No, the SEC has said "most crypto tokens are securities" and coinbase doesn't like that answer, so they asked "Specifically tell us why and how specific tokens are securities" and the SEC has not responded to that request because helping companies skirt securities regulations is not part of their job, in the same way the IRS does not recommend which banks are bad about sending them tax info and the same way someone working for social services cannot legally instruct you on how to hide your assets so that you can get covered by state end of life care.

Lol at thinking that asking a gov't agency if your conduct is illegal is some sort of means of immunizing yourself from the illegality of your conduct

There's a difference between offering "unregistered securities" (which is practically the very definition of a crypto exchange) and stealing user deposits.

The unfortunate reality, though, is that Coinbase depositors ARE unsecured creditors of Coinbase and may lose their deposits in the event of a bankruptcy. This is all spelled out in their quarterly filings.

Not your keys, not your crypto as they say.

Both of the articles you linked are old though

Is a month recent enough?

"Kraken to Discontinue Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Staking-As-A-Service Program and Pay $30 Million to Settle SEC Charges" - https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-25

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