Exploring Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Recent Regulatory Developments

Cryptocurrency has become an increasingly popular asset class in recent years, and investors have an ever-expanding range of options to choose from.^[0] Cryptocurrency exchanges provide a platform for users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies, and there are a number of key features that make them essential for investors.

Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global electronic broker, recently announced its launch of cryptocurrency trading in Hong Kong.^[1] This collaboration with OSL Digital Securities, the world’s first Type 1 and 7 Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)-licensed digital asset brokerage and trading platform for professional investors, enables eligible clients, including individuals with over HKD 8 million in investable assets or institutions with assets greater than HKD 40 million who are residents of Hong Kong, to trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes available on the Interactive Brokers platform.^[1]

Cryptomus.com is another cryptocurrency exchange that takes security seriously. The platform uses advanced security measures such as two-factor authentication, PIN code, Whitelist management, and more to ensure that user data and assets are protected at all times.^[0] The platform is dependable and runs around the clock, permitting users to pay and receive payments in cryptocurrencies at any time.^[0]

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities recently joined 53 other jurisdictions and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a $45 million settlement with Nexo Capital Inc. (Nexo).^[2] The National Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has revealed that Nexo, a Cayman Islands corporation that was founded in 2018, offers a variety of services relating to virtual currency to retail and institutional customers in the U.S., including trading, borrowing, and lending.^[2]

Beginning in October 2020, Ishan Wahi worked at Coinbase as a product manager assigned to a Coinbase asset listing team.^[3] As part of his job, he was engaged in the highly confidential activity of listing crypto assets on Coinbase’s exchanges. He had thorough, in-depth knowledge of which crypto assets Coinbase was intending to list and when public announcements about those crypto asset listings would be released.^[4]

On multiple occasions between June 2021 and April 2022, Wahi violated his duties of trust and confidence to Coinbase by providing confidential business information that he learned in connection with his employment at Coinbase to Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani so that they could secretly engage in profitable trades around public announcements by Coinbase that it would be listing certain crypto assets on Coinbase’s exchanges.^[3]

0. “Cryptomus : The All-In-One Solution for Accepting Cryptocurrency …” www.morningstar.com, 17 Feb. 2023, https://www.morningstar.com/news/globe-newswire/8750246/cryptomus-the-all-in-one-solution-for-accepting-cryptocurrency-payments

1. “Interactive Brokers Launches Cryptocurrency Trading in Hong Kong …” www.marketscreener.com, 17 Feb. 2023, https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/INTERACTIVE-BROKERS-GROUP-50014/news/Interactive-Brokers-Launches-Cryptocurrency-Trading-in-Hong-Kong-42977330/

2. “Pennsylvania to Receive Money in Multi-State Cryptocurrency …” pennwatch.org, 17 Feb. 2023, https://pennwatch.org/pennsylvania-to-receive-money-in-multi-state-cryptocurrency-settlement/

3. “Ishan Wahi pleads guilty in first-ever cryptocurrency insider-trading …” www.newsindiatimes.com, 17 Feb. 2023, https://www.newsindiatimes.com/ishan-wahi-pleads-guilty-in-first-ever-cryptocurrency-insider-trading-case/

4. “Former Coinbase Insider Pleads Guilty in First-Ever Cryptocurrency …” www.hstoday.us, 17 Feb. 2023, https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/cybersecurity/former-coinbase-insider-pleads-guilty-in-first-ever-cryptocurrency-insider-trading-case/