A court filing Wednesday says cryptocurrency executive, Ryan Salame, blew the whistle on disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
FTX’s implosion has ratcheted up the pressure on all centralized exchanges in crypto. The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly considering criminal charges against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Following recent events in the crypto market, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is strengthening its approach to oversight of crypto trading platforms by expanding existing requirements for platforms operating in Canada.
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Blockchain, Crypto, Digital Assets Regulations
Co-Founder FTX Ryan Salame Blew the Whistle
A court filing Wednesday says cryptocurrency executive, Ryan Salame, blew the whistle on disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
- Salame, who was co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, an affiliated company, informed Bahamian securities regulators in the days before FTX collapsed that Bankman-Fried may have funneled customers’ investments to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, setting the stage for the 30-year-old’s downfall.
- The London-based Financial Times first reported the news Wednesday evening about Salame, citing court documents.
- The filing is the first indication to emerge during the bankruptcy process, and in the wake of Bankman-Fried’s arrest, of the role that Salame was playing within the company. It appears to be that of a whistleblower seeking to alert authorities to perceived wrongdoing.
- On Nov. 9, the Financial Times reported, Salame alerted the executive director of the Securities Commission of the Bahamas of the transfers to Alameda.
See: SBF Arrested in Bahamas
- “Mr. Salame further advised the Commission that there were only three (3) persons who had the necessary codes (or passwords) to transfer clients’ assets to Alameda in this manner,” she wrote. She said that included Bankman-Fried and two others. The list did not include Salame himself, according to Rolle’s email.
- The other two FTX executive named have not been charged with crimes.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Reuters: DoJ Considering Criminal Charges Against Binance
The Defiant | Owen Fernau | Dec 12, 2022
FTX’s implosion has ratcheted up the pressure on all centralized exchanges in crypto. The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly considering criminal charges against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
- Reuters reports that, while yet to be filed, charges under investigation are unlicensed money transmission, money laundering conspiracy, and criminal sanctions violations.
- Binance’s BNB token, which secures the BNB Chain, is down 3.3% in the past day on the news.
- Binance responded on Twitter — “Reuters has it wrong again,” the firm tweeted, while also linking to a statement from Tigram Gambaryan, a former IRS agent whom Binance hired in September 2021.
- Outflows from the exchange: The news coincides with significant withdrawals from the exchange — Nansen, the crypto data provider, shows a net outflow of $1.29B in the past 24 hours.
See: Is Binance’s Proof-of-Reserves Pointless Without Liabilities?
- PoR: Binance contracted Mazars, an audit, tax and advisory firm, to produce a report on Binance’s reserves. The report, released on Dec. 7, found the exchange to be solvent but included multiple caveats.
- John Reed Stark of the SEC: “Binance’s ‘proof of reserve’ report doesn’t address [the] effectiveness of internal financial controls, doesn’t express an opinion or assurance conclusion and doesn’t vouch for the numbers…This is how I define ‘red flag’,” Stark tweeted on Dec. 10.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Canadian Securities Regulators: Crypto Trading Platform Enforcement Coming
CSA | Release | Dec 12, 2022
Following recent events in the crypto market, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is strengthening its approach to oversight of crypto trading platforms by expanding existing requirements for platforms operating in Canada.
- On August 15, 2022, the CSA announced that it expected commitments from unregistered crypto trading platforms operating in Canada while they pursue registration. These commitments were to be made to their principal regulator in the form of a pre-registration undertaking (PRU), which included terms and conditions consistent with requirements currently applicable to registered platforms.
- The CSA is of the view that stablecoins, or stablecoin arrangements, may constitute securities and/or derivatives.
- Enforcement coming: If a platform currently subject to securities legislation in Canada does not deliver a PRU to its principal regulator or cease operating, the CSA will consider all applicable regulatory options to bring the platform into compliance with securities law, including enforcement action.
- Timing: CSA members will shortly communicate to platforms a deadline by which PRUs must be delivered. Platforms located outside of Canada that are accessible by Canadians are regarded as operating in Canada for the purposes of securities regulation.
See:
Canadian Crypto Industry is Working Towards Legitimacy
Canadian Securities Regulators Expect Crypto Trading Platforms to Complete Pre-Registration Step
CSA 2021-2022 Enforcement Report highlights: Regulators’ Actions to Hold Securities Law Violators Accountable
- Compliance: Crypto trading platforms giving these undertakings agree to comply with expanded terms and conditions that will include, among other things, requirements to hold Canadian clients’ assets with an appropriate custodian and segregate these assets from the platform’s proprietary business, as well as a prohibition on offering margin or leverage for any Canadian client.
- Custodians will generally be considered qualified if they are regulated by a financial regulator in Canada, the U.S., or a similar jurisdiction with a supervisory regime for conduct and financial regulation.
- Crypto assets or related financial products are high-risk investments. These risks could result from, among other things, crypto trading platform non-compliance with registration terms and conditions or undertakings, interconnectedness within the crypto sector, insolvency, hacks, price volatility and uncertain value propositions for individual assets.
- Current regulation and enforcement:
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Final Legal Submission Concluded After 2 Years: Ripple vs SEC
CryptoPotato | Chayanika Deka | Dec 5, 2022
Image: CryptoPotato
The long-running legal spat between Ripple and the SEC and Ripple is drawing close after two years.
- Stuart Alderoty, General Counsel of Ripple, confirmed the company’s “final submission,” urging the court to grant judgment in its favor and said that Ripple is proud of the defense it has mounted on behalf of the entire digital asset industry.
- According to the court document, the San Francisco-based blockchain company asserted that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has failed to prove the existence of any investment contracts governing the defendants’ offers and sales of XRP between the period 2013 and 2020.
- Ripple also said that both its founders are entitled to summary judgment on their decision to sell on foreign exchanges and added that the SEC could not provide any material fact to the contrary.
See: Legal experts say “This Is It” moment for XRP in Ripple lawsuit,
Brad Garlinghouse CEO XRP took to Twitter to congratulate the team:
“I said it on day 1, we will aggressively fight to get clear rules for the entire industry in the U.S. Congrats to all of Team Ripple for getting us to this point. Ripple stood strong and withstood the SEC’s onslaught. I look forward to being on the right side of justice.”
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Dec 20: Brookings Online Debate: Should Crypto be Regulated by the Federal Government?
Brookings | Dec 7, 2022
Tuesday, December 20, 2022, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST
Online: https://www.brookings.edu/
Debate moderator: Kelly Evans, Anchor, CNBC's "The Exchange"
YES, crypto should be regulated
- Peter Conti-Brown, Class of 1965 Associate Professor of Financial Regulation, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Nonresident Fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings
See: Hester Peirce Reaffirms That the SEC’s Current Approach to Crypto Is ‘Not a Good Way of Regulating’
NO, crypto should not be regulated
- Stephen G. Cecchetti, Rosen Family Chair in International Finance, Brandeis International Business School
Register for this virtual debate on Dec 20 --> Now
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CFTC Commissioner: Average Retail Investor Protection Should Be Different Than Millionaires
Decrypt | Alys Key | Dec 1, 2022
Image: Pixabay/geralt
The CFTC chief has proposed that the average crypto investor should get different protection from professional and high-net-worth individuals.
- She added that she was not seeking to cut off the average investor’s access to the markets altogether but would seek public input on what kinds of extra protections should be afforded to these users. Initial ideas include easy-to-understand disclosures and limitations on leverage.
See: CSA releases 2022-2025 Business Plan focused on investor protection
- She was critical of the shift towards giving users direct access to the markets via trading apps, saying that a broker traditionally adds an extra layer of protection for the customer. I caution against market structures that remove a broker’s duties to retail customers without a full assessment of what will be lost,” she said.
- Romero also called for her agency to invoke “heightened supervision” of crypto exchanges, adding she had been calling for such a move internally for months.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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OSC Seeks Feedback on 2023-24 Statement of Priorities by December 22
AUM Law | Nov 30, 2022
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has released its most recent draft statement of priorities (SoP) in OSC Notice 11-797 – Request for Comments Regarding Statement of Priorities for Financial Year to End March 31, 2024.
The draft SoP is open for comment until December 22, 2022, and describes the OSC’s key priority initiatives, broken down into one of the following four strategic goals for the year:
- Building Trust and Fairness in Ontario’s Capital Markets;
- A key priority under the first goal relates to advancing work on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures for reporting issuers.
- Strengthening Investor Safeguards;
- set out in the draft SoP is to strengthen investor safeguards. One key priority under this goal relates to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI). As indicated earlier this year by press release, the CSA is developing a proposal that will provide OBSI with binding decision making authority.
See: ISED Launches Competition Act Review: Consultation on the Future of Competition Policy in Canada
- Adapting Regulation to Align with Innovation and Evolving Markets; and
- The first key priority continues to refer to the crypto asset sector. Actions next year will involve continued application of regulatory obligations to crypto firms while completing the registration or approval process, including obtaining pre-registration undertakings from firms pending completion of the registration or approval process. Actions also include implementing and refining the program for ongoing oversight of crypto asset trading platforms. A stated action may also specifically impact investment funds, as the regulators intend to develop a regulatory framework with appropriate safeguards for how investment funds invest in crypto assets.
- Enabling the Organization to Deliver Effective Regulation.
- enabling the organization to deliver effective regulation, the OSC continues to review strategies to attract and retain talent, execute on its inclusion and diversity strategy, and integrate data and processes to support effective decision making and risk monitoring.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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