‘Shocked!’ – SEC probes unusual $100B crypto treasury activity
Will the investigation affect crypto treasury trend?
Key Takeaways
Why are U.S. regulators going after crypto treasury firms?
To investigate potential insider trading before making crypto deals public.
How did analysts react to the update?
The views were mixed on whether crypto ETFs will kill digital asset treasury firms.
Regulators are concerned about potential insider trading across public firms that are adopting a crypto treasury.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) plan to investigate several firms for suspicious trading activity just before going public with their crypto treasury plans.
According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, FINRA had already sent letters to some firms, a move a former SEC lawyer, David Chase, called the ‘first step’ in the insider trading investigation. Chase added,
“When those [FINRA] letters go out, it really stirs the pot. It’s typically the first step in an investigation. Whether it goes full, full length, it’s anybody’s guess.”
Will crypto ETFs kill treasury firms?
The report added that over 200 firms have jumped on the crypto treasury bandwagon, with over $100B in capital raising plans in 2025.
Insider trading or leaking nonpublic information is illegal in the U.S. as it affects market integrity and fairness.
Reacting to the report, ETF specialist Nate Geraci said he was ‘shocked’ by alleged insider trading. He added that upcoming crypto ETF approvals could kill crypto treasury firms (also known as DAT, digital asset treasury).
“Think it’s pretty much game over now, especially once staking in ETFs is approved. Just buy the real thing or spot ETF.”
But Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart countered and said,
“ETFs didn’t kill MSTR. They also won’t be able to put capital to work in defi ecosystems like ETH or SOL to generate returns/yields.”
Currently, most of the crypto treasury interest is focused on Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and Solana [SOL]. Out of $121 billion worth of crypto assets accumulated by corporate treasuries, BTC controlled over $106 billion.
According to analysts, the demand from crypto treasuries has helped reduce selling pressure on the assets.
That being said, it remains to be seen if some of the current crypto treasuries will be implicated in the insider trading investigations and potential ripple effects to the associated asset.
