SEC’s FinHub Becomes a Standalone Office with New Responsibilities
- Director Valerie A. Szczepanik will continue to lead FinHub, but will now directly report to the SEC’s chairman.
- FinHub will now have a more valuable role in SEC’s fintech activities.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission building, Washington DC, USA, 25 June 2018. Shutterstock
SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, also known as FinHub, will become a standalone office with an even more important role in encouraging innovation in the financial sector. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced the transformation of its fintech specialized unit in a press release on 3 December.
FinHub was launched in October 2018, within the Division of Corporation Finance, with the aim to act as a public resource, which exchanges information on all fintech-related activities by the SEC. From that moment on, FinHub had a big role in SEC’s crypto strategy as it worked actively with investors and market participants, and communicated with the other U.S. and international regulators on emerging financial technologies. FinHub has been heavily involved in the regulation of securities and was also participating in the pursuit of unregistered security sales.
The move to an independent office should not cause any confusion to the public and the financial industry. Current FinHub director Valerie A. Szczepanik will continue to perform her duties, but instead of reporting to the Division of Corporate Finance, she will now directly report to Jay Clayton, SEC’s chairman. As of now, FinHub will operate as a permanent fixture in SEC’s hierarchy and will strengthen the agency’s ability to foster innovation in emerging technologies consistent with investor protection, as the press release stated.
SEC’s Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, Bill Hinman, noted that the move will improve FinHub’s role in leading and coordinating policy across all SEC divisions and offices. Overall, this reorganization aims to strengthen investor protection, improve the agency’s relationship with market participants and lawmakers.
- The U.S. SEC, CFTC, and FTC have all filed separate lawsuits against bankrupt crypto lender Celsius and its former CEO Alex Mashinsky, charging them with multiple counts of fraud.
- Mashinsky was also arrested in New York on Thursday, and later charged by the Department of Justice with securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud.
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky on Centre Stage during day three of Web Summit, Lisbon, Portugal, 4 November 2021.Piaras Ó Mídheach/Web Summit via Sportsfile/Flickr
- The U.S. regulator has alleged that the platforms offered unregistered securities to the general pubic in the form of the BNB token and BUSD stablecoin.
- Binance was also accused of failing to register as an exchange, and that it had comingled funds between its global and U.S. platforms.
- Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles gave Voyager the permission to close its $1 billion deal with Binance.US, and issue repayment tokens to affected customers.
- Judge Wiles also rejected the SEC’s arguments that the deal could potentially violate U.S. securities laws, and criticized the regulator for attacking the sale without first concluding if it was illegal.