Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell has welcomed the result of the Binance investigation in an X (formerly Twitter) post and has highlighted the need for long-term-oriented visionaries and shareholders.
Over the last 12 months, leaders of major crypto exchanges, such as FTX and Binance, have come under federal scrutiny by United States government agencies for allegations ranging from misappropriation of investors’ funds to bypassing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.
According to Powell, the probes provide much-needed answers to How are they going so fast? and How are they getting away with it?
Powell sees Binance and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s legal proceedings as a positive move, as “going after the most egregious offenders offshore would require effort.” He stated that U.S.-based crypto businesses such as “Kraken, Coinbase and Ripple are all easy targets, sitting right in their back yard.”
The game feels a bit more fair today. The last 12 months have answered 2 nagging questions from shareholders:
1. How are they going so fast?
2. How are they getting away with it?“Trust me, any day now…” is only believable for so many years. It’s hard to keep faith while…
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) November 23, 2023
Hinting at CZ’s recent admission that Binance violated AML requirements, Powell stressed the need to self-police to improve the industry’s reputation:
“Each dodgy operation represents an opportunity for governments to scapegoat crypto and tighten the noose.”
He further asked the community to cooperate to restore the image of the crypto ecosystem by recommending reliable services that “are playing the long game.” He also supported the idea of the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement as long as it helps legally onboard new users to crypto.
Related: Crypto community responds to Kraken lawsuit, Deaton slams ‘dishonorable’ Gensler
Despite Kraken’s long-term approach, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Kraken on Nov. 20 for allegedly commingling customer funds and failing to register with the regulator as a securities exchange, broker, dealer and clearing agency.
The lawsuit claims that crypto assets are securities contracts under U.S. law.
“Without registering with the SEC in any capacity, Kraken has simultaneously acted as a broker, dealer, exchange, and clearing agency with respect to these crypto asset securities.”
A Kraken spokesperson told Cointelegraph it disagrees with the SEC’s complaint and plans to defend itself in court. “It is disappointing to see the SEC continue down its path of regulation by enforcement, which harms American consumers, stunts innovation and damages U.S. competitiveness globally,” the spokesperson added.
Magazine: This is your brain on crypto: Substance abuse grows among crypto traders
A Nigerian court has reportedly delayed the country’s tax evasion case against Binance until April 30 to give time for Nigeria’s tax authority to respond to a request from the crypto exchange. Reuters reported on April 7 that a lawyer for Binance, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, asked a court the same day to invalidate an order allowing for court documents to be served to the company via email. Binance doesn’t have an office in Nigeria and Ikwuazom claimed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) didn’t get court permission to serve court documents to Binance outside the country. “On the whole the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance who is … registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands is improper and should be set aside,” he said. FIRS sued Binance in February, claiming the exchange owed $2 billion in back taxes and should be made to pay $79.5 billion for damages to the local economy as its its operations allegedly destabilized the country’s currency, the naira, which Binance denies. It also reportedly alleged that Binance is liable to pay corporate income tax in Nigeria, as it has a “significant economic presence” there, with FIRS requesting a court order for the exchange to pay income taxes for 2022 and 2023, plus a 10% annual penalty on unpaid amounts along with a nearly a 27% interest rate on the unpaid taxes. In February 2024, Nigeria arrested and detained Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla on tax fraud and money laundering charges. The country dropped the tax charges against both in June and the remaining charge against Gambaryan in October. Tigran Gambaryan (right) was seen in a September video struggling to walk into a courtroom in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Source: X Anjarwalla managed to slip his guards and escape Nigerian custody to Kenya in March last year and is apparently still at large. Related: Binance exec shares details about release from Nigerian detention Gambaryan, a US citizen, returned home in October after reports suggested his health had deteriorated during his detainment with reported cases of pneumonia, malaria and a herniated spinal disc that may need surgery. Binance stopped its naira currency deposits and withdrawals in March 2024, effectively leaving the Nigerian market. Magazine: Trash collectors in Africa earn crypto to support families with ReFi
Asset manager Teucrium Investment Advisors is set to launch the first XRP-based exchange-traded fund in the US markets, a leveraged XRP (ETF) on the NYSE Arca. The Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF will seek to offer investors two times the daily return of the XRP (XRP) token with a 1.85% management fee and annual expense ratio, according to the company’s website. The XRP-based ETF will trade under the XXRP ticker beginning April 8. “If you have a short-term high-conviction view on XRP prices, you may consider exploring the Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF,” the alternative asset manager said. XXRP currently has $2 million worth of net assets. Details of Teucrium’s soon-to-be-launched XXRP ETF. Source: Teucrium Teucrium founder and CEO Sal Gilbertie told Bloomberg on April 7 that investors had shown strong interest in an XRP ETF and hinted that it may file to list more crypto ETFs in the future. Gilbertie was also pleased that XXRP would launch during a market downturn driven largely by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. “What better time to launch a product than when prices are low?” Gilbertie told Bloomberg. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said it was “very odd” to see a new asset’s first ETF come in leveraged form — however, he added that the odds of a spot XRP ETF being approved remain “pretty high.” Source: Eric Balchunas Several spot XRP ETF applications from the likes of Grayscale, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Canary Capital and 21Shares are being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In February, Balchunas and fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart attributed 65% approval odds to a spot XRP ETF in 2025. Predictions market Polymarket states there is currently a 75% chance that the SEC will approve a spot XRP ETF in 2025. Related: XRP price sell-off set to accelerate in April as inverse cup and handle hints at 25% decline Up until recently, ETF issuers would have seen a different environment for filing for XRP ETFs as Ripple Labs — the creators of the XRP token — and the SEC battled out a four-year court battle over XRP’s security status. That case came to a close last month. Teucrium has amassed over $310 million worth of assets under management since it was founded in 2010. It offers mostly agricultural commodities, such as ETFs tracking the likes of corn, soybeans, sugar and wheat. Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set
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Nigeria’s legal history with Binance
Likelihood of an approved spot XRP ETF still high: Analyst
