- Ikigai was punished for failing to sufficiently supervise its employees and business operations, as well as for mishandling asset transfers and money mixing.
According to a panel judgment on August 20, the US National Futures Association (NFA) fined cryptocurrency firm Ikigai Strategic Partners $150,000 for issuing a Bitcoin loan.
The penalty is a direct effect of the wider financial unrest that struck the cryptocurrency industry following the sharp decline of FTX in 2022. This incident revealed weaknesses in the cryptocurrency market. It also forced regulatory organizations, such as the NFA, to expand their purview into formerly unregulated fields.
It is alleged that Ikigai Strategic permitted the Ikigai Opportunities Master Fund Ltd. to transfer assets in an unauthorized manner. The fund it manages is accused of transferring funds to a different organization controlled by Anthony Robert Emtman, the fund principal, and an associate.
Ikigai Faces Charges of Fund Mismatching and Insufficient Monitoring
One of the charges made against Ikigai is that he let the master fund to combine its funds with funds from an other source. This other pool was run by an unaffiliated organization. The fund received flak for not keeping enough tabs on its employees and business operations
Additionally, according to the complaint, Ikigai pledged Bitcoin from its main fund as security for a $1.3 million loan. Ikigai Capital Partners GP LLC, another connected fund, was the recipient of the loan. Their investor duties and financial management were complicated by this relocation. Ikigai Strategic Partners and its principal accepted the penalties following the NFA’s findings, although they refuted the accusations.
Large Losses Due to FTX Failure
Ikigai previously disclosed that a significant amount of its assets were placed in the now-defunct FTX. The fund acknowledged that, prior to the collapse of the exchange, it had recovered virtually little.
Not only was Ikigai not the only company impacted by the FTX collapse, but it also sustained one of the largest losses in relation to its size. A number of other significant businesses, such as Genesis Trading, Multicoin Capital, CoinShares, and Amber Group, have disclosed their financial ties to FTX, which subsequently filed for bankruptcy.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
