The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Cumberland DRW, a crypto trading firm based in Chicago, with several securities violations.

According to the SEC, Cumberland acted as an unregistered dealer and managed over $2 billion in crypto assets. The complaint claims that Cumberland traded crypto assets sold as investment contracts on third-party exchanges.

The SEC identified five specific assets as securities: Solana, Polygon, Cosmos, Algorand, and Filecoin. This list is not exhaustive, meaning there could be more assets that fall into this category.

Jorge G. Tenreiro, the Acting Chief of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, stated, “Despite claims from the industry that crypto asset sales are like commodity sales, our complaint shows that Cumberland and the relevant issuers treated these transactions as securities.” He added, “Cumberland profited from its activities without providing the necessary protections that registration offers investors.”

In other news, Bitcoin miner Iris Energy faces a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the company overstated its data center capacity and misled investors about its high-performance computing potential. Filed in the Eastern District of New York on October 7, this lawsuit seeks to represent shareholders who bought IREN securities between June 20, 2023, and July 11, 2024. Investor Paul Williams-Israel leads the lawsuit, claiming IREN misrepresented its capabilities.

Meanwhile, in Thailand, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules. These rules would allow mutual and private funds to invest in digital assets. This move aims to keep pace with international trends and address the growing interest from institutional investors. A draft proposal was published on Wednesday, inviting public feedback on changes to the criteria for these funds.

Lastly, federal authorities charged 14 individuals and four crypto companies with market manipulation and “wash trading.” This marks the first case of its kind. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that over $25 million in crypto has been seized in this case. Authorities even created a fake digital token to catch alleged criminals in the act. Charges have been filed against Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade for their involvement in these manipulative activities.