Kategori: Politika

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“Politika” kategorisi, siyasete ilgi duyanlara, politik gelişmeleri takip etmek isteyenlere, siyasi analizler ve yorumlar okumak isteyenlere, seçim süreçlerini takip etmek isteyenlere ve siyasi tarih ve kurumlar hakkında bilgi edinmek isteyenlere yönelik geniş bir içerik sunabilir.

Treat Crypto as Securities by Default, European Parliament Study Says

Landmark new crypto laws under MiCA may have few short-term benefits without further steps, the report commissioned by EU lawmakers says.

Crypto assets should be treated as securities by default, and the autonomous organizations that govern decentralized finance (DeFi) should be granted legal status, according to a study commissioned by lawmakers at the European Parliament that was published Tuesday.

The report comes as the European Union finalizes its Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, and considers whether a sequel will be needed to cover extra areas like DeFi, staking and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

All crypto assets should be deemed a transferable security – implying they would fall under the EU’s tough governance and authorization rules that apply to traditional stocks and bonds – unless and until a national regulator says otherwise, the report says.

That default rule “shifts the onus of gathering the technical facts and arguing the scope of regulation” from regulators to industry, said the report, drafted by a panel of academics from universities in Luxembourg, Sydney and Hong Kong, on request from the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

Without changes, “we are skeptical that MiCA will have positive short-term effects given the difficulties of enforcing its rules in an opaque cross-border context,” in which 10,000 crypto protocols vie for the lightest possible regulation, added the document, though its findings aren’t a formal position of the European Parliament.

The crypto industry has been plagued by a lack of clarity on whether rules designed for traditional financial securities apply to digital assets. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chief Gary Gensler has declined to say whether major cryptocurrencies such as ether (ETH) constitute securities under his jurisdiction, but a series of legal actions against companies such as Ripple have led to accusations of regulation by enforcement.

With MiCA signed into law on Wednesday, EU agencies responsible for banking and securities markets must now set out the detailed rulemaking to put it into effect. Even before then, the European Systemic Risk Board, an EU panel responsible for monitoring financial stability risks, has called for further laws to fill in what MiCA leaves out.

U.K. experts have also been studying the legal status of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), a potential precursor to regulation of a sector which the report says is a “Wild West” of “fraudsters and thieves.”

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Bitcoin Miners Gain Support From Texas With Two Bills Passed, One Halted

Two bills that seem to embrace mining have been sent to the governor, whereas one that would adversely affect miners was stopped at the committee stage.

Texas legislators are throwing their weight behind bitcoin mining with two bills passed in the latest legislative session that are signaling support for the industry — and one thwarted for the time being.

In the past few weeks, two bills — SB 1929 and HB 591 — that show support for miners have made it through the legislative stage and are awaiting Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature. If signed, they take effect on Sept. 1.

The bill SB 1929 requires miners whose energy capacity is larger than 75 megawatts (MW) to register with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of Texas as large loads operators, which then shares their data with the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator. The bill is in line with the March 2022 interim interconnection process formed by ERCOT’s Large Flexible Loads Taskforce, which is responsible for drafting policy to manage big electric loads such as bitcoin miners.

Meanwhile, HB 591 was sent to the governor on April 18, and will introduce tax exemptions from companies that put to use otherwise wasted gas, including data centers.

“These bills signal that Texas remains the jurisdiction of choice for bitcoin, blockchain, and digital assets,” said Lee Bratcher, president of local industry group Texas Blockchain Council (TBC).

The third bill, SB 1751 — dubbed by some the “anti bitcoin mining bill” and which would have capped the industry’s participation in cost-saving demand-response programs — was stopped at the committee stage. Demand-response programs are various schemes in which miners get power credits for curtailing their operations at times of peak energy demand.

State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, the bill’s lead sponsor did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment on this story.

“More miners in the [demand-response] program means more load can be reliably called on to help balance the grid,” said Dennis Porter, who leads another industry advocacy group, Satoshi Action Fund. “We are increasing communication with the PUC and ERCOT which will improve transparency and publicly available data on mining which ultimately is good for the industry,” he noted.

However, the opposition of SB 1751 isn’t what defeated it, said Jackie Sawicky, who has brought together hundreds of Texas residents in an activist group called Concerned Citizens of Navarro County. “The house just didn’t prioritize it and the session ended/ran out of time,” so the bill can be reintroduced in the next session, she said. The next session will start in January 2025.

Bill SB 1751 would have taken the threshold for registering with state grid authorities to 10 MW.

“Texas is setting a standard for how to adopt this new and innovative technology,” said Porter.

Texas innovation

Texas is one of the largest bitcoin mining hubs in the world due to cheap energy and friendly regulators. As policy on bitcoin mining at the federal level has lagged, the state, the largest by energy production in the U.S., is marching on with its own rules.

However, it’s not the only state that’s pro-mining. Legislation protecting mining was passed in Arkansas and Montana. Similar bills in Missouri and Mississippi have died.

By contrast, New York imposed a two-year moratorium on new fossil fuel-based bitcoin mines. Oregon is currently considering legislation that would require data centers, including miners, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, a 30% tax on bitcoin mining proposed by the Biden administration appears to have stalled. The tax didn’t make it into a bill on the debt ceiling, which passed on Wednesday. According to Rep. Warren Davidson, the tax will likely not return as part of the U.S. budget.

“With policy stagnation at the federal level, the states are stepping up to be the incubators of innovation,” TBC’s Bratcher said.

U.S. Commodities Agency May Change Risk Rules to Consider Crypto

The CFTC has proposed an overhaul of risk-management requirements, and one commissioner says it should factor in emerging crypto dangers.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proposed an overhaul of its rules for risk management, and Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero said the changes should insist firms prepare themselves for crypto volatility and the risks from holding customers’ digital assets.

The CFTC issued a proposal Thursday to invite comments on possible changes to the agency’s risk management program, and Romero said in a statement that “technologies like digital assets, artificial intelligence, and cloud services, also have emerged as areas that can carry significant risk.”

“These technological advancements, with their accompanying risks, necessitate the commission revisiting our regulatory oversight, including our risk management requirements,” Goldsmith Romero said. “Integration of digital assets with banks and brokers, and the risks that could be posed, could continue to evolve.”

She also flagged the ongoing issues regarding the industry’s custody practices, saying “brokers may explore holding customer property in the form of stablecoins or other digital assets that could result in unknown and unique risks.”

The CFTC will take public comments for 60 days on its “advance notice of proposed rulemaking” – the preliminary stage of a rule process that would have to be followed by a formal, proposed rule and then a vote on a final version.

Welcome, Crypto, to the Fiery Cauldron of U.S. Presidential Politics

Before the push for the White House really gets rolling, digital assets – including bitcoins and CBDCs – are being hefted as ideological effigies, but will it matter?

Whether the crypto industry wants the spotlight or not, digital assets are among the earliest talking points in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, with the most prominent of the new candidates even invoking bitcoins in his campaign opener as evidence of President Joe Biden’s missteps.

In an election in which the heaviest fireworks will likely be seen on the side of the Republican challengers, former President Donald Trump – occupying the role as Biden’s leading nemesis – is himself facing an early-days threat from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who immediately staked out crypto as a kind of political shorthand.

“The current regime, clearly, has it out for Bitcoin,” DeSantis said from his campaign’s Twitter Spaces launch pad, using crypto to represent innovation and personal freedom. “Bitcoin represents a threat to them, they’re trying to regulate it out of existence.”

If digital assets keep figuring into presidential politics, they’ll likely feature as a stand-in to illustrate the perceived abuses of the federal government, according to industry insiders and political experts. But the attention may not contribute to the policy progress crypto businesses crave, because the sector is waiting for comprehensive rules, not political sentiments.

So far, Biden’s administration is being accused of squeezing emerging crypto businesses and trying to set up a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to spy on citizens, according to DeSantis and one of Biden’s challengers from his own party, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

For DeSantis, his pro-crypto position also separates him from chief rival Trump. The digital assets views of the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 nomination have historically been rooted in distrust, with Trump having declared in 2019 that he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, “whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.” However, more recently Trump profited from his own series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), so his position remains murky.

Two weeks before DeSantis opened his campaign beside tech mogul Elon Musk, he sought to make a political moment out of his state’s “ban” of a U.S. CBDC. Experts in the commercial law Florida used to act against a potential digital dollar have said Florida’s effort isn’t a ban at all, but that might not matter for political supporters impressed by DeSantis’ zeal.

“He seems to understand that private solutions being developed in the crypto markets are likely to be superior, in part because they pose fewer risks to the individual liberty of the public,” said Dave Weisberger, CEO of CoinRoutes, a trading tech startup in DeSantis’ home state.

But DeSantis is generally vague about his defense of cryptocurrencies, and his remarks don’t seem to acknowledge they are online instruments that can operate outside the whims of sovereign states. When he says that Democrats – given another four years – will “probably end up killing it,” it seems to suggest the U.S. lawmakers would have more reach than they do, and that crypto won’t find homes in other global jurisdictions, such as in Europe.

“It’s more about how he’s trying to paint himself as a fresh face,” said Ron Hammond, director of government relations for the Blockchain Association in Washington. “He’s trying to say ‘I’m the younger gun here who’s trying to get something done.’”

In the know

A rival Republican candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, has argued the Florida governor doesn’t know the topic well. The biotech entrepreneur told CoinDesk he’s pro-Bitcoin because he sees it as a “decentralized alternative” to the U.S dollar, improving the country’s financial infrastructure by presenting “a source of competition to the existing system.” And he says he understands it much more than DeSantis.

Other notable Republican candidates, such as Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and his state’s former governor, Nikki Haley, have reserved comment on the financial movement. Despite his position on the Senate Banking Committee that could help decide U.S. crypto’s fate, Scott has taken the most neutral possible stance, saying lawmakers should take a “thoughtful, bipartisan and balanced approach” to overseeing the industry in the U.S.

Among the Democratic challengers to standard-bearer Biden, Kennedy – who also holds other views that overlap with Republican positions – is fervently pro-crypto.

“Cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, along with other crypto technologies are a major innovation engine,” Kennedy wrote in a tweet earlier this month. “It is a mistake for the U.S. government to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere.”

The most popular of the pro-crypto candidates among voters, DeSantis, still trails well behind Trump in primary polling, but the fact that there are multiple candidates saying nice things about digital assets is a positive for some in the sector.

“We now have three presidential candidates, spanning both political parties, who explicitly support the digital asset industry,” CoinRoutes’ Weisberger said. “While Republicans are trying to make crypto a partisan issue, the industry itself doesn’t believe it should be, which is why the support from RFK Jr. is also potentially important.”

Biden is the only candidate with a federal record on digital assets. So far, his administration hasn’t set down any significant crypto policy, and the financial regulators he picked have taken a staunchly critical view of the industry. His Securities and Exchange Commission chief, Gary Gensler, may be the most antagonistic of the bunch, combating digital assets businesses in courtrooms and with his agency’s rule proposals. And the direct messages from Biden’s Department of the Treasury and his own White House have been increasingly suspicious of the industry.

Though it wasn’t a campaign remark, Biden, who last month formally announced

Indian Crypto Exchanges Are in Survival Mode, Trying to Extend Their Runways

CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, WazirX and other Indian firms CoinDesk spoke to think they’ll survive the ongoing bear market – here’s how.

Indian crypto exchanges are in survival mode, cutting costs wherever possible, re-negotiating partner contracts, suspending employee pay-hikes, conducting lay-offs, exploring new revenue models and rebranding themselves, all in an effort to extend their financial runways – when they run out of money.

CoinDesk spoke to employees and senior executives at six prominent Indian crypto platforms – CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, WazirX, BuyUCoin, ZebPay and Giottus. Several of these exchanges said their runways range from 21 months to four years, which can, if true, likely take them into the next bull market. CoinSwitch and ZebPay did not share their financial runway timelines.

The survival of India’s crypto exchanges has been a concern since Feb. 1, 2022, when the nation announced stiff taxes – a 30% tax on crypto profits and the more controversial 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on all transactions. At the time, local industry leaders said they had entered a “period of pain” but that “ultimately, technology always emerges, it always wins.”

Signs of a crypto “brain drain” emerged within weeks. Ten days after the taxes were implemented, crypto trading volumes plummeted, in some cases more than 70%. India’s government then imposed a “shadow ban,” which saw local payment processors cut off banking access to crypto exchanges.

Four months into the imposition of the 30% tax, the industry’s advocacy body was disbanded and enforcement agencies were investigating at least 10 crypto exchanges for allegedly assisting foreign firms launder money via crypto. Soon, the world took note and global industry leaders such as Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao claimed India’s taxes would probably “kill the industry” in the country.

By 2023, data revealed crypto traffic in the nation continued its nosedive and that Indians had moved more than $3.8 billion in trading volume from local to international crypto exchanges.

India, as president of the Group of 20 (G-20) in 2023, has prioritized framing globally coordinated rules for the crypto sector. As a result, experts say, it needed to align with the guidelines of the global standard setter, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on virtual assets by including Indian crypto business under anti-money laundering rules.

This move, which adds some legitimacy to the sector by way of setting up regulatory oversight, has fueled a little optimism among Indian exchanges on the local industry’s longevity, even if the nation doesn’t change its tax regime, according to several industry officials. But they don’t have an answer to what happens if the tax regime stays the same – and are taking various steps to guard against such a scenario.

CoinDCX

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX is weathering the storm by diversifying and banking on its recent series D funding of $135 million.

“We have a runway of four years,” under present conditions, said Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder of CoinDCX and Okto. “Our biggest bet is on our Okto Wallet. We believe DeFi [decentralized finance] will offer 10X value eventually as only 6.5 million DeFi customers exist, while there are 400 million crypto investors.”

CoinDCX has been leading engagement with lawmakers through the industry’s policy advocacy body, Khandelwal said, exemplified by a recent event, and has emerged as a major player in the Indian crypto industry after recent setbacks faced by WazirX, who ostensibly led the industry in policy engagement before CoinDCX.

Its strategy, Khandelwal says, is “investing heavily in innovation and technology,” including hiring in the space “even now” as we “never overhired.”

WazirX

WazirX, India’s biggest exchange by trading volume until recently, continues to survive despite a tumultuous year.

The exchange’s future seemed uncertain when its founder Nischal Shetty moved from India to Dubai to focus on a new project late last year. Later, Indian agencies that were investigating local crypto exchanges raided properties tied to a director of WazirX. Shortly after, Binance CEO Zhao and Shetty were involved in a public spat over who truly controls the exchange – a quarrel that continues to this day.

The events have seen the exchange lay off 40% of its staff. Yet, the exchange has a 21-month runway, said an employee who was not authorized to speak publicly about the company. “But employees who deserve pay hikes won’t be getting them,” he said.

WazirX’s survival strategy is to renegotiate contracts with partners including software vendors, the person said. Unlike some other exchanges, WazirX will not be diversifying. It will stay focused on crypto.

“That’s what the founders enshrined into us,” the person said. “The idea is to survive because [the] Bitcoin halving is going to happen in May 2024 when, we hope, a bull run will come. By then, if things don’t break, we should be around to see it.” The Bitcoin halving is when the total number of bitcoin that miners can potentially win is halved. This happens roughly every four years.

WazirX also plans to “keep chipping away at costs constantly to extend the runway” and capitalize on its 15 million registered users to attract lucrative partnerships, like a recent one with tax solutions provider TaxNodes.

CoinSwitch

CoinSwitch shed “Kuber” from its previous name, CoinSwitch Kuber, and pivoted from being a crypto exchange to a crypto investment platform.

This occurred as India’s taxes, the crypto winter and the ire of Indian agencies all hit the platform hard. CoinSwitch properties were raided by Indian agencies in August 2022.

“CoinSwitch has always been conscious of its expenses,” said Ashish Singhal, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “Today, we are proudly serving more than 19 million registered users, and are excited to grow and evolve with them by providing them with a diverse range of investment options, including fixed deposits (FD), mutual funds, Indian stocks, and more.”

Without giving a timeline on its runway, Singhal said “our healthy runway gives us enough ammunition to invest in our long-term vision – to be a one-stop wealth-tech destination for Indians.”

Singhal also said his company has “strengthened its leadership team by hiring industry experts,” presumably to navigate regulators, even if he added that the recent step to bring crypto businesses under anti-money laundering rules was a “significant positive advancement.”

ZebPay

One of India’s first crypto exchanges, ZebPay, also refused to share a timeline on its runway. But Chief Revenue Officer Nirmal Ranga said it had support from an unnamed subsidiary in Singapore, in the event it loses customers, the bear market extends or things generally go from bad to worse.

“Our internal revenue strategy is to increase the lending value of our customers and concentrate on user growth,” Ranga said. “We are also trying to create interest for institutional investment.”

Given ZebPay’s team has seen crypto’s early up and down cycles, it follows two ways to survive – “use profits made during previous bull runs or use funds from marketing partnerships or investors,” Ranga said. Like WazirX, ZebPay also has a partnership with TaxNodes.

BuyUCoin

Another early player in the Indian crypto space, BuyUCoin, said its runway extends until early 2025.

“By the end of 2024, we will see a good bull run,” said Atulya Bhatt, its co-founder. “Crypto is a seasonal market and every four years bitcoin goes up and down. It will take 10 years for crypto to become completely sustainable.”

Nevertheless, BuyUCoin had to lay off 10% of its 100 people workforce, Bhatt said. At the same time, BuyUCoin has set up sister companies in Estonia and Singapore as part of a global expansion plan.

“Since we have never raised funds, we can now, given interest from partners across the globe,” he said.

Giottus

After FTX’s implosion, crypto entities scrambled to publish proof of reserves. Giottus, a lesser-known Indian exchange recognized for its staking service and multilingual options in the country, said it would provide customers with proof of reserves, while rivals remained silent.

“We have a two-year runway under the current conditions,” said Vikram Subburaj, Giottus’ co-founder and CEO. “Our focus is completely on bringing in operational excellence, building your products right, drastically cutting marketing and acquisition expenses, and reducing perceived risks associated with exchanges.”

In terms of employees, Subburaj said Giottus had a compact marketing team even during bull runs and like others, it partnered with TaxNodes to improve operational support.

Gemini and Bankrupt Lender Genesis Asks U.S. Court to Dismiss SEC Lawsuit Targeting Earn Program

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged the two entities had sold unregistered securities through Gemini’s Earn program.

Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global Capital and exchange platform Gemini are asking a U.S. court to dismiss a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging the two sold unregistered securities, court filings from Friday show.

The SEC, in a lawsuit filed in January to a New York court, targeted Gemini’s yield-bearing product Earn, an unregistered offering through which the regulator alleged the two entities “raised billions of dollars’ worth of crypto assets from hundreds of thousands of investors.”

“As alleged in the complaint, Genesis then exercised its discretion in how to use investors’ crypto assets to generate revenue and pay interest to Gemini Earn investors,” the SEC said in its complaint. Genesis, like CoinDesk, is owned by the Digital Currency Group (DCG).

While with the Earn program “the borrower and lender could choose to engage in subsequent transactions,” Gemini said in Friday’s filings that “it did not itself require any lending or borrowing by any party, and there was no way for a lender to transfer or assign it without the affirmative consent of all parties.”

Gemini further alleged the SEC’s treatment of the tri-party Master Digital Asset Loan Agreement (MDALA) contract between Genesis, Gemini and Earn users as an unregistered security “has no basis in law or fact.”

The SEC failed to “adequately plead” MDALA was a security and failed “to make non-conclusory allegations that the MDALA was sold to anyone, or that any party offered to sell it,” the document supporting a motion to dismiss said.

In its original complaint, the SEC noted Genesis held around $900 million in assets belonging to some 340,000 Gemini Earn investors, when it froze withdrawals from the platform in November shortly before filing for bankruptcy protection in the U.S.

“We allege that Genesis and Gemini offered unregistered securities to the public, bypassing disclosure requirements designed to protect investors,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said at the time. Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss fired back at the suit, calling it a “manufactured parking ticket.”

EU Investment Firms Should Clearly State Crypto Is Unregulated, Watchdog Says

Companies that market crypto alongside traditional securities might mislead consumers about access to fair advice and compensation, the European Securities and Markets Authority worries.

Investment firms in the European Union that offer crypto alongside more traditional products could be misleading their consumers into a false sense of security, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said in a Thursday statement.

The EU agency said it’s worried that firms may use a seal of regulatory approval they have to offer traditional finance (TradFi) stocks or funds to make customers believe they’ll have access to sound financial advice or compensation schemes in the event of crypto mishaps.

EU rules known as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) ensure investment intermediaries promote only appropriate financial products to clients – but don’t always apply to more exotic investment opportunities like gold, real estate or non-transferable loans.

The EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) is set to bring MiFID-style rules to the sector, but the regime will only take effect in around 18 months. In the meantime, ESMA, a Paris-based agency that groups and coordinates national regulators, is worried some companies are encouraging and exploiting the ambiguity.

“ESMA recommends that investment firms take all necessary measures to ensure that clients are fully aware of the regulatory status of the product/service they are receiving and clearly disclose to clients when regulatory protections do not apply,” ESMA said, adding that regulatory approval shouldn’t be used as a promotional tool.

ESMA has previously warned people crypto can be risky, while an October paper highlighted novel threats such as hacks and consensus manipulation. The agency is also set to consult shortly on detailed secondary laws that will put MiCA into effect.

Crypto Exchange Coinone’s Former Exec Acknowledges Bribery Charges in South Korea: Report

A lawyer for the accused reportedly said he admits “the facts of the prosecution,” during a May 25 trial hearing.

A former executive of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone, who was accused of taking bribes in return for listing certain coins, has acknowledged the charges, local news agency Yonhap reported on Thursday.

“Mr Jeon,” Coinone’s former director of listing, was accused of receiving nearly 2 billion won ($1.51 million) in return for listing virtual assets such as “Furiever Coin,” which was listed exclusively on the exchange, and has since been linked to a kidnapping and murder investigation in the Gangnam district in Seoul. Jeon’s broker, known as “Mr Ko,” is accused of facilitating the listings.

At a trial hearing on May 25, a lawyer for the two reportedly said: “I admit the facts of the prosecution.”

“Basically, we are acknowledging the facts of the prosecution, but since we have not been able to view all the evidence, we will present a final opinion after review,” the lawyer added.

Coinone’s listing team leader and another broker have also been accused, but their lawyers said they have yet to finish reviewing evidence and will respond to the charges at the next trial hearing on June 15.

Coinone didn’t immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.

Coinmint Sues California Chipmaker for $23M, Alleging ‘Elaborate Deception’

The mining firm, which has been embroiled in several legal battles, describes an elaborate fraud scheme for a $150 million contract.

New York crypto miner Coinmint alleged two semiconductor companies set up an “elaborate deception” to lure the miner into a $150 million purchase agreement, in a lawsuit seeking over $23 million in damages.

Coinmint alleged that bitcoin technology firm Katena Computing and semiconductor designer company DX Corr set up a scheme to convince it to buy up to $150 million of bitcoin mining machines that Katena couldn’t and didn’t plan to deliver on, according to a lawsuit filed with a court in California’s Santa Clara County Superior Court on Jan. 26.

Under the scheme, Katena “improperly influenced, bribed or incentivized co-conspirators,” including one unnamed person within the mining firm, for a $150 million purchase of bitcoin mining machines, Coinmint alleged.

The lawsuit alleges fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary duty, as well as aiding and abetting against DX Corr and its executives as well as former Coinmint employees. Coinmint is asking for “actual, compensatory and consequential damages, including but not limited to the $23 million,” that it deposited for the sale, as well as punitive and exemplary damages.

“Katena is in binding arbitration concerning Coinmint’s breach of contract and is seeking damages caused by Coinmint’s failure to pay. Katena is eager to talk openly and factually about this dispute but will honor the arbitration process and its confidentiality requirements. When we can talk more openly, we will,” said a spokesperson for Katena.

DX Corr filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this month, saying Coinmint didn’t sufficiently bring any claims to support its allegations against the semiconductor firm.

Coinmint is no stranger to litigation. Its two cofounders fought over the firm’s ownership. Coinmint filed a complaint with the New York Public Service Commission against the utility of Plattsburgh, where it operates, to avoid paying a deposit related to its electricity use. It was also involved in a tax fraud case in Puerto Rico, where it is headquartered, that was settled under a confidentiality agreement, said a source close to the matter.

Coinmint denied the existence of the alleged tax fraud case and declined to comment on this story.

Court records show the municipality of San Juan sued Coinmint in March 2022, and a judge known for their tax expertise was assigned to the case. The court did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for the complaint at the time of publication.

DX Corr did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.

Back in 2021, an unnamed Coinmint employee initiated conversations over the purchase of equipment. “Katena engaged in an elaborate deception” to get Coinmint’s founder and CEO Ashton Soniat on board with [claims] that it ‘truly possessed a revolutionary chip design that would disrupt the Bitcoin mining world,’” the lawsuit said.

The unnamed individual was the Coinmint chief financial officer at the time. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a LinkedIn, a person named Michael Maloney was Coinmint’s CFO at the time. Maloney declined CoinDesk’s request for comment through LinkedIn.

Katena was dangling an offer for the position of CFO and equity as part of the plot to Maloney, said the lawsuit.

The then-CFO asked Katena to recommend a semiconductor expert to perform due diligence on the machines. But Katena suggested Robert Bleck as an independent observer, even though he was in fact in collusion with DX Corr executive and Katena minority shareholder Sagar Reddy, Coinmint alleged. Bleck was Reddy’s “b***h,” the lawsuit read.

Bleck misrepresented Katena’s semiconductor design and production capabilities to the Coinmint CFO, who then tried to convince CEO Soniat.

Soniat signed a sales contract in May 2021 which “obliged Coinmint to pay Katena $150 million for miners without security or customary protection” according to Katena.

Katena also used the contract to try to get funding from investors, including investment bank JP Morgan, said the lawsuit.

When the CFO left Coinmint, two other individuals took the role of convincing Soniat to continue sending deposit payments. The two were also planning a hostile takeover of Coinmint and eventually parted ways with the miner.

Coinmint ultimately sent deposit payments of $23.4 million to Katena with no contractual protections and allegedly received nothing.

Gulf Binance Clinches Thai Regulatory Approval

The joint venture between Gulf Innova and Binance aims to begin offering crypto services in the country later this year.

Gulf Binance, a joint venture between crypto exchange Binance and Gulf Energy’s innovation arm Gulf Innova, has received a digital asset operator license in Thailand, according to a Friday press release.

The rubber-stamp from Thailand’s Ministry of Finance will allow the firm to advance plans to open a regulated crypto exchange and broker in the southeast Asian country. The platform will likely launch by year’s end, according to a press statement.

“By harnessing Binance’s expertise together with Gulf’s established local presence and network, Gulf Binance aims to showcase the full potential of blockchain technology to meet the needs of Thai users, Binance Head of Asia, Europe, and MENA Richard Teng said in a statement. Gulf Energy is one of Thailand’s largest private power producers.

Thailand has signaled it is warming up to positioning itself as an emerging Asian crypto hub. In January, the country’s regulators introduced a set of rules for crypto custody services, and later announced a $1 billion tax break for firms issuing digital tokens for investment. A 2022 ban on crypto lending and staking services and restrictions on digital asset-related advertising, however, indicates the nation is taking a careful approach to supervising the emerging market.