The US-based crypto advocacy group Blockchain Affiliation has submitted a letter to the Securities and Change Fee’s (SEC) Workplace of Inspector Common calling for an investigation into crypto agency Prometheum.
In a July 12 letter, the Blockchain Affiliation requested SEC inspector basic Deborah Jeffrey look into the Monetary Trade Regulatory Authority’s approval of Prometheum’s particular function broker-dealer license (SPBD). The group additionally raised issues concerning the means by which co-CEO Aaron Kaplan secured a seat testifying earlier than the U.S. Home Monetary Providers Committee in June.
The advocacy group mentioned the actual fact Prometheum had been capable of get hold of a SPBD license in Might 2023 was “regarding” given the uncertainty round U.S. securities legal guidelines making use of to crypto companies. In keeping with the Blockchain Affiliation, Prometheum modified its public place of calling for regulatory readability from the SEC in April 2021 to claiming “there exists a transparent pathway to registration for digital belongings and laws is pointless”.
“We’re involved that the Fee granted Prometheum a ‘sweetheart’ deal in trade for assist of the Fee’s coverage targets, or that Prometheum is leveraging private connections with the Fee to realize an unfair benefit available in the market,” mentioned the affiliation. “Most importantly, we’re involved that Chair Gensler is utilizing Prometheum and the SPBD licensure course of as a way to thwart congressional efforts towards laws by persevering with to unfold the false narrative that the regulation is already clear with regard to digital asset securities.”
1/ At this time, @blockchainassn submitted a letter to the SEC Workplace of Inspector Common requesting the OIG open an investigation into potential impropriety surrounding the approval of Prometheum as a first-of-its-kind Particular Goal Dealer-Vendor.@KMSmithDC acknowledged: pic.twitter.com/dVtTs0yMEg
— Blockchain Affiliation (@BlockchainAssn) July 12, 2023
Associated: Blockchain Affiliation seeks information from Fed, FDIC and OCC on ‘de-banking’ crypto companies
The decision for an investigation into Prometheum adopted a Freedom of Info Act request from the advocacy group in June searching for paperwork and communications associated to the agency’s license. In keeping with the Blockchain Affiliation, it was nonetheless “ready for solutions” concerning the knowledge.
Cointelegraph reached out to Prometheum co-CEO Aaron Kaplan however didn’t obtain a response on the time of publication. A number of U.S. lawmakers have additionally referred to as for a Division of Justice and SEC investigation into Prometheum over alleged ties to China-based companies, which seemingly has no connection to the Blockchain Affiliation’s allegations.
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