Today in crypto, investors allege US banking giant JPMorgan helped facilitate fund flows in a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) signed a memo to regulate crypto and other emerging markets in harmony, and the head of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said the GENIUS Act doesn’t give the agency the authority to guarantee stablecoin deposits.
JPMorgan sued over alleged role in $328 million crypto Ponzi
JPMorgan is facing a lawsuit for allegedly enabling a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme run by now-defunct Goliath Ventures.
Investors on Tuesday filed a proposed class action in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing JPMorgan of ignoring suspicious transactions and allowing Goliath to use its infrastructure to collect investor funds.
The lawsuit notes that despite JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s repeated criticism of Bitcoin (BTC), the bank allegedly failed to prevent crypto scammers from carrying out fraudulent wire transactions.
“Chase, by virtue of its Know Your Customer actually knew that Goliath was acting as a ‘private equity’ cryptocurrency pool operator investing money for investors, without being licensed at all to sell these investments,” the complaint states.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the arrest of Goliath CEO Christopher Delgado on Feb. 24. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison if convicted on all counts.
Prosecutors said Goliath Ventures, formerly known as Gen-Z Venture Firm, operated the scheme from January 2023 through January 2026.
The lawsuit claims JPMorgan was the sole banking institution for Goliath from January 2023 to May or June 2025. “Goliath obtained at least $328 million from what are believed to be over 2,000 investors,” the complaint notes.
SEC, CFTC agree to regulate crypto, other markets in harmony
Two of the US’s most influential financial regulators have agreed to better coordinate oversight of the financial markets, seeking to put an end to decades of “regulatory turf wars” between them.
According to the memorandum of understanding written on Wednesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it has become a “pivotal time” to regulate in harmony as new technologies, such as crypto, make it more challenging to monitor the markets.
In a separate statement, SEC chair Paul Atkins said the memo is the latest step toward repairing the relationship between the agencies:
“For decades, regulatory turf wars, duplicative agency registrations, and different sets of regulations between the SEC and CFTC have stifled innovation and pushed market participants to other jurisdictions.”
The agencies also noted in the memo that they strive to provide a “fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
FDIC chair says no deposit insurance for stablecoins under GENIUS Act
Travis Hill, chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, confirmed that, in his opinion, a law passed in July would not give the agency the authority to guarantee stablecoin deposits.
In remarks prepared for the American Bankers Association Washington Summit on Wednesday, Hill said that under rules for the stablecoin payments bill, the GENIUS Act, the FDIC would not allow the government to guarantee deposits once the law is fully implemented. Similarly, stablecoin issuers would be prohibited from representing that the digital assets were FDIC insured, and a proposed plan would stop “pass-through insurance” by third parties.
“If a payment stablecoin arrangement qualified for pass-through insurance, this would mean that if a bank holding the issuer’s reserves in a deposit account failed, the FDIC would insure the deposit account based on the interests of the stablecoin holders, rather than insuring the account as a corporate deposit account eligible for only $250,000 of insurance,” said Hill.
