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Comment by godelski | Hacker News Reader

Honestly, when is the guy going to get charged by the SEC for market manipulation? It is fairly obvious he knows what he is doing with the crypto market and making a good chunk of change on it through his social media influence. But he also does it with Tesla (I know he got charged that one time but he's been a repeat offender).

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Bitcoin is not a security nor a protected commodity market, so does the SEC even have jurisdiction?

McAfee was arrested for pumping crypto, but he was lying about his ownership and gave pretty specific forward looking claims. I don't believe he's been convicted yet.

Bitcoin is regulated in the US under both the Commodities Futures Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission. These tend to be fairly narrow rules about contracts for arbitrage, know your customer rules, etc. I have no idea if they have authority over pump-and-dumps

It's not illegal to buy a stock and tell people you bought it. There are entire businesses whose model is "make an investment, and then tell other people why you made it hoping they will make the same one". This isn't criminal, it's good business practice.

The thing he got in trouble for with Tesla was for lying about about a takeover offer, which is criminal, basically because it's a type of fraud. This isn't that.

Not a lawyer, not legal advice, etc.

It sure is illegal to say "the stock of the company that I'm the CEO of is too high."

I fear the US government might allow Elon Musk get away with anything, as long as he keeps launching satellites for the military.

BTC is not under SEC ( or even any) regulation for pump and dump schemes.

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