The U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it had brought charges against “five entities and three individuals” that own and operate the crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX.

Venezuela’s National Securities Superintendency has reportedly given the go-ahead for a 90-day trial of a cryptocurrency-powered “decentralized stock exchange” in the country, based on Ethereum.

The company behind classic video games like Pac-man, the Atari Group, is set to start publicly selling its Atari Token (ATR in early November. ATRI is an entertainment industry payment method atop the Ethereum blockchain.

CryptoCompare is joining Solidus Labs to present this year’s Digital Asset Compliance & Market Integrity Summit (DACOM), a series of digital events tackling the foremost challenges of regulated crypto growth.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• BitMEX Charged for 'Illegally Operating' Crypto Derivatives Exchange
• Venezuela Trials Ethereum-based Decentralized Stock Exchange
• Atari to Start Selling its Video Game Crypto Next Month
• Join us at the DACOM Summit Throughout October & November

BitMEX Charged for 'Illegally Operating' Crypto Derivatives Exchange

The U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it had brought charges against “five entities and three individuals” that own and operate the crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX.

In a press release, the CFTC said it filed an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the operators of BitMEX for allegedly executing futures transactions on an illegal platform, offering illegal options, failing to register as a futures commission merchant, failing to implement proper know-your-customer (KYC) checks, failing to implement anti-money laundering (AML) procedures, and more.

BitMEX, it’s worth noting, has implemented mandatory KYC checks in August of this year. In a related criminal action the exchange's owners, Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, Samuel Reed, and the exchange’s first employee Gregory Dwyer were charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiracy to violate the act. Reed has reportedly already been arrested, while the other three remain at large.

The CFTC’s statement adds BitMEX received over $11 billion in bitcoin deposits and made over $1 billion in fees operating the platform, with “significant aspects of its businesses” being made in the United States, including accepting funds form U.S. users.

BitMEX’s lawyers intend to fight the allegations. Attorneys Peter Altman and Jim Benjamin of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP said that the company sought, from its early days, to “comply with applicable U.S. laws, as those laws were understood at the time and based on available guidance.”

Venezuela Trials Ethereum-based Decentralized Stock Exchange

Venezuela’s National Securities Superintendency has reportedly given the go-ahead for a 90-day trial of a cryptocurrency-powered “decentralized stock exchange” in the country, based on Ethereum.

The exchange is known as BDVE and its website claims it is the “first decentralized stock exchange in the world.” It highlights users will be able to access it from anywhere in the world “without restrictions.” Both fiat currencies and “alternative digital assets” will be available for trading.

“[BDVE] represents a new and innovative segment of the stock market, which, with the use of new information and communication technologies, provides the investor with security and control over its financial assets.”

The platform’s manual notes securities traded on the platform will be ERC-223 or ERC-721 tokens, or a third “packable” token. After the 90-day trial, Venezuela’s securities watchdog will determine whether the exchange is granted a license.

Atari to Start Selling its Video Game Crypto Next Month

The company behind classic video games like Pac-man, the Atari Group, is set to start publicly selling its Atari Token (ATR in early November. ATRI is an entertainment industry payment method atop the Ethereum blockchain.

The token is reportedly been in the works since at least early 2018, and cryptocurrency casinos, blockchain games, and video game distribution platform Ultra.io will be among the first to use the utility token.

Through two private sales investors and players have bought up $1.5 million in ATRI tokens, with each being priced at $0.08. At the end of the public sale the token will list on Bitcoin.com and Atari’s own exchange. U.S. citizens will not be able to take part in the sale.

On September 27th, One User Bought over 2M OAN from Binance

On September 27th, the price of the Open Application Network's AION token increased by over 20%. Looking at OAN's on-chain data on the Flipside Data Cooperative revealed that this user bought 2,097,203 AION, and then sent it over to another address. 

Join us at the DACOM Summit Throughout October & November

CryptoCompare is joining Solidus Labs to present this year’s Digital Asset Compliance & Market Integrity Summit (DACOM), a series of digital events tackling the foremost challenges of regulated crypto growth.

The series of events will kick off on the 8th of October with keynote speaker CFTC Commissioner Dan M. Berkovitz, who will join us at a fireside chat and share his thoughts on the state of crypto regulation.

On October 22, executives from leading crypto and traditional firms will go into the relationships between compliance and growth strategies when building global digital asset businesses, while on November 5 practitioners leading the effort to bridge cryptocurrency and traditional markets will discuss the data and technological challenges they face, and how they address them.

On November 19 we'll look into where cryptocurrency regulations are headed, as regulators throughout the world work to enforce new frameworks to keep crypto marks in check without stifling innovation.

 

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