Otoritas AS Mendorong Penyelidikan dan Tindakan Penegakan terhadap Bursa

Setelah runtuhnya bursa FTX, otoritas di seluruh dunia semakin memperhatikan ruang aset digital, dengan fokus tajam pada perilaku perusahaan di bidang tersebut. Bursa yang didirikan bersama oleh Sam Bankman‑Fried mengajukan kebangkrutan pada November lalu setelah gagal mengumpulkan cukup aset untuk memenuhi permintaan pelanggan. Insiden ini tak terelakkan menarik sorotan regulator pada platform perdagangan serupa lainnya saat regulator berupaya memberantas praktik kripto yang mencurigakan.

In recent months, federal agencies and government departments with oversight of the sector in the US have intensified their pursuit of centralized exchanges, market intermediaries, and other companies. Regulatory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have on their end taken action against major players like, Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini citing various misdeeds. This week, Binance became the latest target of the US Department of Justice over alleged non‑compliance to sanction laws. Here are details and more on other exchanges wading through legal issues.

Binance diselidiki atas Dugaan Pelanggaran Sanksi Terkait Konflik Ukraina

Bloomberg melaporkan pada hari Jumat bahwa divisi keamanan nasional Departemen Kehakiman sedang menyelidiki Binance dan beberapa eksekutifnya, dengan mengutip orang‑orang terdekat dengan penyelidikan. Penyelidikan terhadap pejabat tersebut bertujuan untuk menentukan apakah platform bursa itu digunakan oleh orang Rusia untuk memfasilitasi transfer dana secara ilegal. Bursa yang dipimpin oleh CZ membantah adanya kasus ketidakpatuhan terhadap sanksi keuangan AS dan internasional yang mereka ketahui, serta menambahkan bahwa mereka memiliki protokol Know‑your‑customer (KYC) yang diterapkan.

Sumber yang tidak disebutkan namanya juga mencatat bahwa Departemen Kehakiman kemungkinan tidak akan memilih penyelesaian dengan bursa kripto jika penyelidikan berujung pada dakwaan formal. Kantor Pengendalian Aset Asing (OFAC) Departemen Keuangan AS pada Senin lalu mengumumkan perjanjian penyelesaian dengan Poloniex berdasarkan potensi tanggung jawab sipil atas dugaan pelanggaran sanksi terhadap Krimea, Kuba, Iran, Sudan, dan Suriah.

Binance menjadi subjek regulasi lain dan penyelidikan kriminal terkait perilakunya. Minggu ini, laporan Reuters tanggal 4 Mei menunjukkan bahwa bursa tersebut mengizinkan akun yang terhubung dengan kelompok teroris, termasuk Negara Islam, mengakses platformnya. Pada sebuah blog tanggal 5 Mei, Binance menanggapi tuduhan tersebut dengan menuduh Reuters “sengaja menghilangkan fakta penting” untuk menggambarkan bursa dalam cahaya negatif.

“Intinya, kami tidak mengetahui adanya bursa – atau lembaga keuangan lain – yang saat ini lebih berupaya menjaga pelaku jahat agar tidak berada di platform mereka dibandingkan Binance. Kebijakan dan proses kami mematuhi persyaratan AMLD5/6 anti‑pencucian uang dan pembiayaan terorisme, dan kami memiliki program kepatuhan yang kuat yang menggabungkan prinsip dan alat anti‑pencucian uang serta sanksi global yang canggih untuk mendeteksi dan menangani aktivitas mencurigakan.”

Bursa menekankan bahwa upayanya selalu selaras dengan otoritas kontra‑terorisme internasional yang terlibat. Binance juga menyatakan bahwa ia saat ini bekerja sama dengan penegak hukum untuk membantu melacak organisasi ilegal. Penyelidikan terhadap bursa kripto terbesar di dunia ini muncul sementara pemain lain di ruang ini seperti Coinbase terus meminta kejelasan mengenai kerangka kerja yang ada.

Coinbase Mengajukan Gugatan terhadap SEC setelah Respons Diam atas Permintaan Klarifikasi Regulasi

Towards the end of April, Coinbase sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), intending to force a response to its request for a specific rule regarding digital assets. The exchange had submitted a petition asking for a precise and unambiguous regulatory framework from the SEC in Juli 2022, but the agency has yet to respond with a definitive answer.  Instead, it has taken persistent enforcement actions against several crypto companies, including Coinbase.

In the April 24 filing challenging the securities regulator, Coinbase demanded that the SEC provides guidance on the registration of digital assets as securities or how regulations that were established many years ago for traditional securities would apply to this asset class. In a separate response to the SEC issuing a Wells Notice to Coinbase, the exchange officials reiterated the exchange’s previous stance of a legal challenge. CEO Brian Armstrong and Legal Officer Paul Grewal said they intend to vigorously defend themselves in court but still gave a chance for discussions before the situation gets there.

Armstrong restated that the SEC taking up arms with the exchange was not in the interest of the US, particularly because there is yet to be an agreed‑upon rulebook in the country. The Sullivan and Cromwell lawyers, representing the exchange, were blunt about the matter, categorically stating that the commission’s case against Coinbase will fail as a matter of fact and law. Notably, in an investor protection video shared earlier on the same day, SEC chair Gary Gensler emphasized the importance of regulatory compliance for crypto intermediaries operating in the US market, stating that the main issue is not a lack of regulatory guidance but rather a lack of compliance from these participants.

SEC Menggugat Coinme dan Up Global sebesar $3,8 Juta

In the same week, the SEC announced a fine of nearly $4 million on crypto firm Coinme and its subsidiary Up Global, alongside their CEO Neil Bergquist for allegedly misleading investors in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017. Bergquist was slapped with a $150,000 penalty, while the two firms will part with a combined $3.8 million, though none of the three accepted or denied the charges.

The regulator alleged that the parties deliberately inflated the amounts raised through this initial coin offering (ICO). The SEC also said that Bergquist and Coinme took steps to reduce its need to purchase UpToken – Coinme had told users during the ICO that it would allocate 1% of every transaction to cashback rewards in the form of purchased UpToken tokens.

Kraken Meminta Pengadilan San Francisco Membatasi Permintaan Informasi Pengguna Spesifik dari IRS

Still in April, Bloomberg reported that Kraken exchange had asked a federal court in San Francisco to intervene and block the United States Internal Revenue Service’s inquiry about some critical user information in what Kraken termed an unjustified treasure hunt. The exchange’s pushback was retrospective to the IRS’s summons in February, which sought users to identify Kraken accounts that carried out a minimum of $20,000 worth of crypto trades in any single year between 2016 and 2020. Kraken’s lawyers opined that the IRS had gone beyond the boundaries established in a similar dispute with Coinbase six years ago and that the agency is seeking much more details than allowed from a much larger user base.