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This week in the crypto world we’ve seen the Silk Road hacker get a year in prison, Bittrex complaining at a lack of communication from the SEC prior to a lawsuit, and Gary Gensler getting the third degree by some members of the House Financial Services Committee.
Joyous.
Silk Road Hacker Faces Jail
The Silk Road hacker who was last year found to be in possession of a haul of bitcoin, cash and precious worth $3.36 billion was this week sentenced to a year in prison. James Zhong, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud nine years after stealing more than ₿50,000 from Silk Road, was also ordered to hand over the haul that police discovered hidden in various places around Zhong’s home.
Zhong would never have been identified if he hadn’t sold the 50,000 BCH tokens he received after the 2017 hard fork on a centralized exchange.
Bittrex Complains About SEC Treatment
Crypto exchange Bittrex this week hit back at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after it was sued for alleged sales of securities. Bittrex said that the SEC failed to inform it when asked which coins the agency considered to be securities, a story that has been told before by other exchanges.
The SEC filed proceedings against Bittrex over the sale of several cryptocurrencies it deems securities, almost three weeks after the exchange announced that it was shuttering its services due to “continued regulatory uncertainty”.
Gensler Grilled in House Hearing
Gary Gensler faced a grilling at a House Financial Services Committee hearing this week over his approach to cracking down on the crypto space, with one representative even filing a motion to remove him from office.
Several members of the committee heavily criticized Gensler for the way he has gone about his regulatory work in a number of fields, with high staff turnover and overzealous rulemaking among the criticisms, with the SEC chair even questioning his own previous quotes.
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Mark Hunter