Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced that it received a Wells notice form the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signaling the regulator may take enforcement action against it.

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has, along with Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly known as BitTorrent), have been charged by the SEC for the unregistered offer and sale of Tronix and BitTorrent digital asset securities.

Telegram has announced that its users can now send each other Tether’s USDT stablecoin via the Tron network. Tether is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, after Bitcoin and Ethereum, with a market cap of $78 billion.

 Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Coinbase Faces Potential SEC Enforcement Action
• SEC Targets Justin Sun and Star-Studded Lineup in Crypto Fraud Case
• Telegram to Launch USDT Payments on Tron
• Stablecoin Daily Trading Volume Reaches Highest Level Since FTX Collapse

Coinbase Faces Potential SEC Enforcement Action

Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced that it received a Wells notice form the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signaling the regulator may take enforcement action against it.

According to a blog post the company published on the notice, it comes after a brief investigation into unspecified digital assets listed on the exchange and its staking service Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime, and Coinbase Wallet.

The cryptocurrency exchange has made it clear its products and services will keep on operating as usual. The exchange says that the SEC provided little information on the potential violations of securities laws, despite it repeatedly asking the regulator to clarify which assets on the platform may be considered securities.

Coinbase has reportedly made several attempts to register with the SEC, but it seems that the regulator has not responded with any feedback. Despite this, Coinbase remains confident in its business practices and believes that rules and legislation are more appropriate for defining the law in the crypto industry, rather than enforcement actions.

Coinbase says it’s prepared to seek clarity in court, and that it has met with the SEC more than 30 times over the past nine months to discuss a registration path.

SEC Targets Justin Sun and Star-Studded Lineup in Crypto Fraud Case

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has, along with Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc.(formerly known as BitTorrent), have been charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the unregistered offer and sale of Tronix and BitTorrent digital asset securities.

As per a press release issued by the SEC today, Sun and his companies are also accused of fraudulently manipulating the secondary market for TRX and orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities to promote TRX and BTT without disclosing they were being paid for it.

Eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy), Austin Mahone, Michele Mason (Kendra Lust), Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo), and Aliaune Thiam (Akon), have been charged for illegally promoting TRX and/or BTT without disclosing their compensation.

The SEC’s complaint states that Sun and his companies offered and sold TRX and BTT as investments through multiple unregistered "bounty programs". Moreover, Sun, BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry offered and sold BTT in unregistered monthly airdrops to investors who purchased and held TRX in Tron wallets or on participating crypto trading platforms.

In addition, the SEC accuses Sun of violating the anti-fraud and market manipulation provisions of federal securities laws. Between April 2018 and February 2019, the SEC alleges Sun directed his employees to engage in more than 600,000 wash trades of TRX between two crypto trading accounts he controlled.

Per the SEC, Sun sold TRX into the secondary market to generate more than $31 million in illegal, unregistered offers and sales of the tokens.

Telegram to Launch USDT Payments on Tron

Telegram has announced that its users can now send each other Tether’s USDT stablecoin via the Tron network. Tether is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, after Bitcoin and Ethereum, with a market cap of $78 billion.

USDT runs on several blockchains, with Telegram for now only supporting its TRC20 version on the Tron network. Tron offers low-cost and high-speed transactions, making it an attractive platform for stablecoin transactions.

Telegram’s announcement detailed that users can “now buy, swap, and make P2P trades with Tether USDT (TRC20),” and that they can also directly send the cryptocurrency to friends with no transaction fees.

In addition to supporting USDT, Telegram also allows users to buy Bitcoin via its app and send it to other users or Bitcoin wallets. However, it cannot be cashed out, only exchanged for TON, the native token of its Telegram Open Network blockchain project.

Stablecoin Daily Trading Volume Reaches Highest Level Since FTX Collapse

On March 14th, stablecoin trading volumes surged to $51.9 billion, as crypto assets rebounded following the Federal Deposit Insurance corporation’s pledge to guarantee all deposits in Silicon Valley Bank.

This marked the highest daily volume for stablecoins since November 10th, when FTX collapsed. Amidst the turmoil, USDC trading volume hit $8.12 billion on March 11th, the highest daily volume since June 2022, as traders panicked over the depegging of stablecoins.

Dive deeper into the stablecoin world with CryptoCompare’s latest Stablecoins & CBDCs Report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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