The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission can serve members of the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) Ooki with subpoenas through its online communication channels, according to a federal judge.
In an Oct. 3 order granting a CFTC motion, U.S. District Judge William Orrick said the commission could provide a copy of his summons and complaint via the Ooki help chat. DAO, as well as a notice on their online forum. The judge said the court’s decision was based on the CFTC actually serving Ooki DAO by providing the necessary documents.
The CFTC filed a lawsuit against Ooki DAO on September 22, claiming that the organization offered “illegal off-trade digital asset trading,” violated registration guidelines, and broke provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act. The legal medicament came alongside similar charges against bZeroX and its founders, who were ordered to pay $250,000 as part of a civil money penalty.
Ooki DAO members discussed how to respond to the CFTC lawsuit, suggesting allocating treasury funds to hire lawyers for DAO members, trying to gain support from the DeFi community, and raising legal funds through the sale of non-fungible tokens. Many expect the organization to launch a governance vote to finalize any decision on handling the lawsuit.
Many in the cryptocurrency space have criticized the CFTC for carrying out enforcement measures against organizations and companies without clear regulatory guidelines. Jake Chervinsky, head of policy at the Blockchain Association, a crypto asset advocacy group, said that the legal actions against Ooki DAO and bZeroX are “the most egregious example of law enforcement regulation in the history of cryptocurrencies.”
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