Crypto.com Shuts Down US Institutional Service Amid SEC Crypto War

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Crypto.com, which holds a 20-year, $700 million Los Angeles arena naming rights deal signed in 2021, is suspending its institutional exchange service for US customers on June 21. The company cited the current market landscape in its decision, which comes the same week that cryptocurrency firms Binance and Coinbase were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that they violated securities laws. securities.

We recently made the trade decision to suspend the institutional offering of Crypto.com Exchange in the United States effective 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 21, 2023 due to limited institutional demand in the United States in the current landscape of the market. Affected institutional users have been notified in advance to help ensure a smooth transition, Crypto.com said in a statement to Blockworks.

Institutional investors are usually large accredited clients and companies. US customers will still be able to use Crypto.com’s retail app, which has more than 80 million users worldwide.

Singapore-based Crypto.com owns the naming rights to Crypto.com Arena, home to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, NHL’s Kings and WNBA’s Sparks. Crypto.com has a plethora of other sports sponsors, including the UFC, Formula 1, FIFA, NWSL Angel City FC, and a jersey patch deal with the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.

The US federal government is cracking down on cryptocurrency as the SEC filed lawsuits earlier this week against Coinbase and Binance, alleging they violated laws by offering digital assets as unregistered securities. Binance has stopped letting customers trade with US dollars on its platform, while Coinbase continues to sponsor the NBA and WNBA. The SEC also claims that Binance mismanaged customer funds and lied to US regulators and investors about its operation.

Crypto.com’s decision to ax its institutional trading platform in the US follows the cryptocurrency market crash last year, which included the bankruptcy of FTX, which officially held the naming rights to the Miami Heats arena, sponsored MLB umpire uniforms and was supported by star athletes such as Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Shaquille O’Neal. Voyager, which sponsored the NWSL, is another crypto firm that went out of business in 2022.

Galaxy Digital, owner of Candy Digital NFT company which is an MLB partner and lost its Fanatics investment, is also moving its operations out of the United States.

Certainly, in the short term, they would be looking to move people out of the US, overseas, and many companies are doing that, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said, according to Decrypt. Companies like ours wonder how quickly we can move people overseas.

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