Close Menu
  • Coins
    • Bitcoin
    • Ethereum
    • Altcoins
    • NFT
  • Blockchain
  • DeFi
  • Metaverse
  • Regulation
  • Other
    • Exchanges
    • ICO
    • GameFi
    • Mining
    • Legal
  • MarketCap
What's Hot

Tether and Adecoagro join forces for sustainable Bitcoin mining

04/07/2025

SFT Protocol Taps Crust Network to Build Next-Gen Decentralized Infrastructure

04/07/2025

Ethereum Looks Strong Despite Volatility – $10,000 Price Target Gains Momentum

04/07/2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
  • Back to NBTC homepage
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
X (Twitter) Telegram Facebook LinkedIn RSS
NBTC News
  • Coins
    1. Bitcoin
    2. Ethereum
    3. Altcoins
    4. NFT
    5. View All

    Texas clears final hurdle for Bitcoin reserve fund

    04/07/2025

    Sell Bitcoin or Hold? Sobering Economic Model by Investor Fred Krueger

    04/07/2025

    What to Expect in Bitcoin in June? Expert Analysts Share Their Predictions

    04/07/2025

    Bitcoin Rebounds Above $104,300 as Tariff Chaos Triggers Nearly $1B in Liquidations

    04/07/2025

    Ethereum Looks Strong Despite Volatility – $10,000 Price Target Gains Momentum

    04/07/2025

    Ethereum Price Gathers Strength — Bulls Prepare for Upside Extension

    04/07/2025

    Ethereum Liquid Staking Hits New ATH With 35.5 Million ETH Locked – Will Price Follow?

    04/07/2025

    SharpLink Gaming Makes Bold $4.82M Ethereum Investment, Reinforcing Massive Digital Asset Strategy

    02/07/2025

    Is Hoskinson quietly profiting off unsold ADA?

    04/07/2025

    Cardano Set to Launch Bitcoin DeFi Integration on May 27, Targeting DeFi Growth

    04/07/2025

    Animoca Brands invests in Astar to grow Sony-linked blockchain ecosystem

    04/07/2025

    What’s New in Berachain’s RFRV Batch 8 This Week

    04/07/2025

    Art Blocks’ PostParams Enable a New Medium for Generative Art

    03/07/2025

    Researchers Use AI to Reconstruct 3,000-Year-Old Babylonian Hymn

    02/07/2025

    Ubisoft Adds AI Agents to ‘Captain Laserhawk’ Game That Vote and Govern

    01/07/2025

    Donald Trump Made His New Move Concerning Memecoin TRUMP!

    01/07/2025

    Tether and Adecoagro join forces for sustainable Bitcoin mining

    04/07/2025

    SFT Protocol Taps Crust Network to Build Next-Gen Decentralized Infrastructure

    04/07/2025

    Ethereum Looks Strong Despite Volatility – $10,000 Price Target Gains Momentum

    04/07/2025

    DTCC joins stablecoin race, awaits clarity from U.S. lawmakers

    04/07/2025
  • Blockchain

    SFT Protocol Taps Crust Network to Build Next-Gen Decentralized Infrastructure

    04/07/2025

    Brooklyn teen deploys Solana node for his high school

    04/07/2025

    Terminus Joins Forces with WizoLayer to Merge Real-World Payments and Web3

    04/07/2025

    JPMorgan unit developing blockchain-based platform to tokenize carbon credits

    04/07/2025

    Ice Open Network Partners XCOIN Network to Integrate VSwap for Seamless Crypto Experience

    04/07/2025
  • DeFi

    DeFi Enters New Era as Injective Debuts High-Speed Testnet Making it the Only L1 With Unified VM Layer

    04/07/2025

    Multi-Token Swaps Go Live as Burve Debuts on Berachain

    04/07/2025

    Solana Treasury Firm Expands SOL Holdings and Staking Strategy With $2.7M Purchase

    04/07/2025

    Zilliqa Leads with 41% Surge

    04/07/2025

    Justin Hyun on Building Affluent’s DeFi Super‑App in Telegram

    04/07/2025
  • Metaverse

    Microsoft’s AI Diagnoses Like House, Bills Like Costco

    02/07/2025

    Mark Zuckerberg Unveils New Meta AI Lab After Poaching OpenAI Talent

    01/07/2025

    Can China’s MiniMax-M1 AI Topple US Rivals? We Put It to the Test

    28/06/2025

    Meta and OpenAI Use of Copyrighted Books for Training AI Was Fair Use: Federal Judge

    26/06/2025

    How to Get Your Chatbot to Talk Dirty

    18/06/2025
  • Regulation

    DTCC joins stablecoin race, awaits clarity from U.S. lawmakers

    04/07/2025

    Hong Kong’s Legendary Education Group Announces Bold $3.82M Crypto Investment Plan

    04/07/2025

    MicroStrategy director quietly dumps all his MSTR shares

    04/07/2025

    Tokenized US Treasuries Grow by $340M in Just Under Three Weeks

    04/07/2025

    Dow Jones inches up, S&P 500, Nasdaq gain as Trump pressures Fed

    04/07/2025
  • Other
    1. Exchanges
    2. ICO
    3. GameFi
    4. Mining
    5. Legal
    6. View All

    Top Optimism DEX Velodrome Launches On-Chain Swap Infra for Superchain

    03/07/2025

    new era for derivative trading on onchain wallet

    03/07/2025

    FTX Reveals Next Repayment Date to Fully Compensate Large Creditors

    03/07/2025

    Gate Surpasses 30 Million Global Users, Accelerating Its Rise as the Next-Generation Crypto Exchange

    03/07/2025

    ICO for bitcoin yield farming chain Corn screams we’re so back

    22/01/2025

    Why 2025 Will See the Comeback of the ICO

    26/12/2024

    WizoLayer Partners with KingdomStarter to Revolutionize Web3 Gaming and DeFi

    04/07/2025

    PlayZap Games Joins Forces with DeFi Cattos to Offer Cutting-Edge Gaming via Aptos

    04/07/2025

    EverQuest, Planetside Co-Creator Reveals Open-World Shooter Game ‘Reaper Actual’

    03/07/2025

    Former Riot, Blizzard Game Developers Raise $30.5M to Build AAA Shooter on Etherlink, Tezos L2

    03/07/2025

    Tether and Adecoagro join forces for sustainable Bitcoin mining

    04/07/2025

    Summer Curtailments Slash Bitcoin Production for US Miners Amid Grid Pressures

    04/07/2025

    CleanSpark’s Tennessee expansion boosts stock 11% amid local unrest

    03/07/2025

    What Are Bitcoin Miners Waiting For?

    02/07/2025

    Why the XRP Legal Battle Still Isn’t Officially Over

    03/07/2025

    Senate Passed Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” With 51-49 Vote

    03/07/2025

    Ripple’s post-2018 XRP sales to institutional buyers don’t violate SEC conditions

    02/07/2025

    New Developments Regarding the Fate of Terra (LUNA) Founder Do Kwon – There May Be a Glimmer of Hope, Here Are the Critical Dates

    02/07/2025

    Tether and Adecoagro join forces for sustainable Bitcoin mining

    04/07/2025

    SFT Protocol Taps Crust Network to Build Next-Gen Decentralized Infrastructure

    04/07/2025

    Ethereum Looks Strong Despite Volatility – $10,000 Price Target Gains Momentum

    04/07/2025

    DTCC joins stablecoin race, awaits clarity from U.S. lawmakers

    04/07/2025
  • MarketCap
NBTC News
Home»Legal»Crypto Mining Rig Sales Are Securities? Not So Fast, Lawyers Say
Legal

Crypto Mining Rig Sales Are Securities? Not So Fast, Lawyers Say

NBTCBy NBTC03/10/2024No Comments4 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email


A federal judge denied a crypto firm’s request last week to dismiss an SEC complaint alleging that the sale of its purported mining hardware to customers constituted an investment contract. And while the move spurred some speculation on social media over the implications for such hardware, legal analysts say there’s no immediate reason for concern.

According to the lawsuit, filed in March 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Green United allegedly defrauded investors of $18 million by selling them “Green Boxes” that failed to mine digital tokens called GREEN as promised. That’s because the Ethereum-based tokens couldn’t actually be mined, the suit claims.

The ongoing case forms federal regulators’ latest attempts to eradicate “garden variety fraud” within the cryptocurrency industry and beyond, lawyers told Decrypt.

“They gave people money and they wanted to profit off of it,” said Ishmael Green, a partner at law firm Diaz Reus. “This is a classic fraud case. It’s not even a real [crypto-centric] case.”

Although the lawsuit is another step in the grand scheme of U.S. crypto policy and the SEC’s approach to regulation by enforcement, another lawyer argued to Decrypt that it’s not as consequential to the future of the cryptocurrency industry as the agency’s litigation against Coinbase or Ripple.

“All of these cases are important, but this one is far less important,” said Terrence Yang, strategic advisor at Swan Bitcoin.

Given that Green United’s motion to dismiss the case has been denied, the lawsuit will go on to be heard in a federal court.

In its complaint, the SEC alleges the Green United deposited GREEN tokens into investors’ accounts “to create the appearance of a successful mining operation,” despite the fact that GREEN tokens, which are Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens, could not be mined and did not come from mining-related activities at all.

The SEC also alleges that GREEN has no realizable value “contrary to representations made [by Green United] at the time” of its hardware’s sale. Green United has denied those allegations in a separate legal filing, however.

Ishmael Green, the Diaz Reus partner, told Decrypt that the SEC’s case is unlikely to have implications for typical mining hardware, which users operate to support networks and try to generate crypto rewards—like on Bitcoin. In this specific case, the SEC is alleging that mining wasn’t actually happening on the boxes sold to users.

It’s fine “so long as the mining rigs are sold with the understanding that the end user will be doing the mining,” he clarified, based on his understanding of the case. “In Green United, the mining rig was sold with an agreement that stated Green United would control and run the system,” he added.

The lawsuit also contains allegations that Green United’s so-called mining equipment—both the hardware (the boxes) and software (the nodes)—comprise a securities investment. That means the case could potentially have implications for hosted mining services, which Green United purported to offer, even though the SEC didn’t explicitly mention hosted mining in its complaint, Reed Smith counsel Hadas Jacobi told Decrypt.

In a posted statement, Green United attempted to paint the SEC’s case as a mischaracterization of what was actually happening, writing that SEC lawyers “try to change the law by classifying hosted mining as a security, a practice performed by numerous public companies.” Green United also said that it offered refunds to buyers, but that “only a very small minority of node owners requested a refund.”

Neither the SEC nor Green United responded to Decrypt‘s requests for comment.

While the SEC and Green United are still locking horns about the legitimacy of the crypto firm’s business and the classification of its mining equipment, the judge overseeing the case is far from making any determinations, lawyers told Decrypt.

“The recent ruling… makes a much more limited determination,” Jacobi said.

According to Jacobi, the judge’s rejection of Green United’s motion to dismiss the case isn’t a ruling in favor of the SEC’s arguments, but rather a declaration that he simply intends to hear the case instead of throwing it out.

Green United’s unsuccessful attempt to dismiss the case isn’t much of a surprise, as firms commonly request dismissals, according to lawyers that spoke to Decrypt. That’s because filing such a request typically has benefits for defendants, regardless of whether or not they have actually violated federal securities laws.

Filing to dismiss a case “is almost like getting two bites at the apple for doing the bare minimum,” Green told Decrypt. “The [defense] receives additional time, and they also get to come up with additional legal theories as to why they’re innocent.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
NBTC

Related Posts

Why the XRP Legal Battle Still Isn’t Officially Over

03/07/2025

Senate Passed Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” With 51-49 Vote

03/07/2025

Ripple’s post-2018 XRP sales to institutional buyers don’t violate SEC conditions

02/07/2025

New Developments Regarding the Fate of Terra (LUNA) Founder Do Kwon – There May Be a Glimmer of Hope, Here Are the Critical Dates

02/07/2025
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Top Posts
Get Informed

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news from NBTC regarding crypto, blockchains and web3 related topics.

Your source for the serious news. This website is crafted specifically to for crazy and hot cryptonews. Visit our main page for more tons of news.

We're social. Connect with us:

Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn RSS
Top Insights

Tether and Adecoagro join forces for sustainable Bitcoin mining

04/07/2025

SFT Protocol Taps Crust Network to Build Next-Gen Decentralized Infrastructure

04/07/2025

Ethereum Looks Strong Despite Volatility – $10,000 Price Target Gains Momentum

04/07/2025
Get Informed

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news from NBTC regarding crypto, blockchains and web3 related topics.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.