The DOJ's NCET (National Cryptocurrency Enforcement) division is a new team formed early '22, with Eun Young Choi serving as the inaugural Director. Her responsibilities are quite clear and casts a very wide net on authority and cooperation amongst international enforcement… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Something tells me the NCET team is spearheading the reopening of the bank fraud investigation on #Tether for suspicion of leveraging the US banking system to launder money (hint hint $SBNY).
Crypto enforcement at the DOJ works very closely with the SEC and CFTC. I’m sure the NCET has taken quite the interest in the #Binance CFTC complaint
I can think of a few influential crypto figures and entities involved w/ these shenanigans twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
NCET’s stated mission: “tackle complex investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of cryptocurrency, particularly crimes committed by virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and money laundering infrastructure actors.”
Priorities are clear
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Initial thoughts on $COIN Q1: the Q1 call was fluffed and received zero substance or insight from management. (1) total volumes were flat q/q ($145B) during Q1 crypto pump. “Other crypto assets” (i.e., shit tokens) were 45% of volume, up from 33% in Q4. $BTC and $ETH volumes were… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Lots of $ETH was staked, so being a lower % of total volume wasn’t a surprise and more $BTC volume flowed to #Binance . The ONLY reason why revenue increased was b/c shit tokens have a higher take rate vs. $BTC + $ETH. Be mindful that virtually all shit tokens are unregistered… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
95% of trading revenue is derived from 25% of the volume. Power and non-power users fell off a cliff after February. Thus far in Q2, retail volumes are virtually nonexistent. Capital markets 101 - Q1 numbers are backward looking. Q2 and Q3 will be much uglier.
How much were you paid to write this? Ignoring so many realities: (1) $COIN went public as a money transmitter and illegally operates an exchange, broker dealer, and clearinghouse. They also run a hedge fund now post-One River acquisition. Smell any conflicts of interest?
(2) ~50% of trading volume is attributed to securities coins/tokens that are either unregistered securities and/or frauds. (3) you have a tone deaf CEO who publicly taunts the SEC and sues them. Suing a regulator never ends well, so good luck with that.
(4) “regulatory clarity” EXISTS in relation to “investment contracts.” Digital assets fall into this category. (5) the Q1 pump was a low quality, thin liquidity rally fueled by CZ/#Binance . Most of the volume was in futures, perps, and options, which $COIN doesn’t provide.
IMHO, the FDIC’s Supervision Report on $SBNY doesn’t justifiably outline the excessive number of money laundering transactions that occurred via Signet. #Tether and #Binance were some of the largest transactors of the “blockchain” and violated BSA/AML/KYC laws in the process.
Despite the lack of detail relating to money laundering transactions made via Signet, the FDIC did recognize that $SBNY had poor internal controls and insufficient BSA/AML/KYC processes in place.
We believe the FDIC is leaving more extensive investigations to the DOJ as the kimono is cracked open on the biggest money laundering network in history. CZ will be in handcuffs for trafficking illicit funds through the US banking system.
$SBNY is violating major AML/KYC laws. Signet has the same dirty laundry as $SI 's SEN. As everyone, should know, the SEC (suck everyone's cock) are reactive, not proactive. They're the coroners, not the detectives. We need the DOJ and DA's office in here for some carnage...
So, don't count on an immediate repricing in $SBNY 's shares. However, what could accelerate the bloodshed is if non-crypto customers used their fucking brains and pulled deposits, forcing a bank run. This is important because ~90% of $SBNY 's DEPOSITS ARE NON-FDIC INSURED
Knowing when this will implode is impossible to ascertain. The SEC and other government entities are cracking down on bad actors in crypto and $SBNY definitely falls into these crosshairs, which is likely to result in severe regulatory action and billions in fines.