The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 54: DoJ to probe Tether as Coinbase faces lawsuit, Amazon denies digital currency plans, and nChain launches Kensei

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In light of the U.S. government’s crackdown on digital currencies, the Department of Justice (DoJ) is reportedly pulling together a probe on Tether executives for bank fraud allegations. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that federal prosecutors are investigating “whether Tether executives concealed from banks that transactions were linked to crypto.” According to the report, the probe could potentially turn into a criminal case. Tether is a stablecoin that is widely used to trade BTC.

Tether released a statement denying the report, citing that it was “based on unnamed sources and years-old allegations, patently designed to generate clicks.” The statement explains that Tether “routinely has open dialogue with law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice,” as part of their commitment to cooperation, transparency, and accountability.

This is not the first time that Tether has a run-in with U.S. authorities. In 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James took Tether’s parent company iFinex to court for allegedly obfuscating an $850 million loss linked to the collapse of Crypto Capital with the help of USDT. iFinex settled for $18.5 million with the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York in February this year.

Meanwhile, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) faces a proposed class action suit over misleading claims during its Nasdaq debut.

Investor Donald Ramsey, through the law firm Scott + Scott, filed a complaint against Coinbase before the California Northern District Court for “significant losses and damages” following the company’s debut on the Nasdaq Exchange in April. Coinbase’s Nasdaq debut was a direct listing, not an initial public offering (IPO). Ramsey’s complaint argues that Coinbase gave investors a pre-listing illusion of fiscal strength. According to the complaint, the registration statement and prospectus were used to effectuate the company’s offering were false and misleading.

In other news, Amazon denies reports by U.K. publication City AM last week that the e-commerce giant is gearing up to accept digital currency payments and will also issue tokens soon. In a statement to Bloomberg, Amazon said: “Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true.” Amazon says they want to focus on exploring what it could look like for customers shopping on their website. The e-commerce giant is currently recruiting blockchain-savvy employees as the firm continues to explore its options.

nChain announced the initial phase of Kensei, a data management blockchain enterprise platform with an initial focus on audit and accountability functionality. The Kensei platform offers unbounded benefits of blockchain technology, simplifies its implementation for enterprises, and sets the stage for additional functionality to be rolled out. It can seamlessly integrate into a customer’s existing business and data management processes. The platform also allows customers to easily verify the status of a single document or record, or of an ordered series of records. It eliminates the need for enterprises to manage keys and addresses, making customers focus on collecting and analyzing data.

Kensei utilizes the BSV blockchain, taking advantage of its notably larger block sizes, allowing more transactions or referenced data in each block on chain.

This week, More Than Money with Patrick Thompson, CoinGeek’s latest series premiered featuring Ayre Ventures Director Paul Rajchgod. In the show, Rajchgod explains why investors are placing their bets on BSV. Head to CoinGeek’s YouTube channel to watch the episode and learn more.