
The U.S. government is really starting to get serious about crypto. So far this year, we’ve had milestone
Now, we have
Basically, Ishan Wahi, in his position as product manager, had advanced knowledge of cryptocurrency tokens that would soon be listed on Coinbase, the U.S.’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Normally, when a token is added to Coinbase, there is an influx in new retail investors, thus pumping up the value in the cryptocurrency. Those who invested in these tokens before they hit Coinbase stand to gain a profit as they got in at a lower price before the Coinbase listing.
From June 2021 to April 2022, Ishan allegedly provided this insider information before Coinbase’s public listing announcements to his brother and his friend. Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani allegedly bought at least 25 different crypto assets on at least 14 different occasions prior to the public announcement that the token would be added to Coinbase.
The scheme allegedly made the three approximately $1.5 million in realized and unrealized gains.
According to the Department of Justice, they were tipped off by a crypto influencer on Twitter, @cobie, who
After seeing @cobie’s tweet, Coinbase
Both Ishan and his brother, Nikhil, were arrested this morning. Ishan’s friend Sameer has yet to be apprehended. All three face a maximum sentence of 20 years.
After these charges were announced, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had its own follow-up bombshell announcement. The SEC filed separate securities fraud charges related to the insider trading case, naming
The tokens listed as securities are AMP, RLY, DDX, XYO, RGT, LCX, POWR, DFX, KROM.
Cryptocurrency advocates have long argued that tokens are commodities, as there are different rules surrounding them. Securities, such as stocks, show ownership in a company and have a more stringent set of regulations to follow. Clearly, the SEC disagrees…at least when it comes to some tokens.
As
While it’s technically true that these charges represent the first-ever crypto insider trading case, you better believe that there have been plenty of prior insider trading schemes in this wildly unregulated and shady market. And you can bet your bottom Bitcoin that this won’t be the last time charges of crypto insider trading are filed by the DOJ.