After Nearly a Decade, Gary Gensler’s Poster Child for Crypto Compliance Executes Its First Trade

After weathering years of trade skepticism and navigating a shifting regulatory panorama, Prometheum has executed its first crypto trades—aiming to show its critics mistaken by seamlessly integrating digital belongings with conventional investments beneath a single regulatory roof.

The corporate, which has raised almost $100 million because it was established almost a decade in the past, started offering entry to crypto buying and selling final week. Whereas the service is at present restricted to Ethereum, founder and co-CEO Aaron Kaplan mentioned the agency expects to debut extra digital belongings within the close to future.

“We’ve simply saved our heads down and saved shifting ahead,” Kaplan informed Decrypt. “Our aim is to have the ability to service the dealer‑vendor and [Registered Investment Advisor] channels and the key asset issuers, and I believe that there is quite a lot of consolation.”

That consolation comes at a time when the remainder of the market is wanting elsewhere. Whereas traders have flocked to automobiles like spot Bitcoin ETFs following their watershed 2024 debut, Prometheum’s long-awaited milestone went nearly unnoticed by the broader crypto sector.



The trade’s indifference is rooted in a bitter feud. In 2023, Kaplan caught trade flak for testifying earlier than U.S. lawmakers that the SEC had clearly laid out a path for compliance—primarily validating the aggressive enforcement ways of then-SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Whereas giants like Coinbase fought the regulator in courtroom, Prometheum pressed ahead with a enterprise mannequin that handled digital belongings like Ethereum as securities.

On the time, onlookers mocked Prometheum’s lack of quantity, evaluating the agency’s step-by-step strategy to a “bicycle with no wheels” or a “merchandising machine with no snacks.”

Now, the wheels are turning, and Kaplan insists the corporate is poised to capitalize on the tokenization of U.S. capital markets. With the launch of its corresponding clearing system, he argues broker-dealers can lastly supply clients direct entry to crypto alongside conventional belongings, bypassing the administration charges and a “layer of abstraction” that ETFs symbolize.

“That is good for crypto,” Kaplan mentioned. “That is bringing in a whole lot of thousands and thousands of accounts that now unexpectedly may spend money on crypto.”

However Prometheum’s grand opening arrives in a radically altered actuality. The strict regulatory regime they constructed their enterprise to fulfill has dissolved. Following Gary Gensler’s departure from the SEC, the company’s lawsuit in opposition to Coinbase was formally dropped and dismissed—together with a lot of the regulator’s different crypto lawsuits and investigations.

Earlier than Prometheum executed its first transaction, the agency spent years constructing its custody infrastructure and regulatory approvals. In 2023, the agency turned the primary to obtain a license from the SEC and FINRA to function what’s referred to as a particular objective broker-dealer, permitting Prometheum to legally safeguard digital asset securities beneath federal legislation.

Worse for Prometheum’s aggressive edge, the unique regulatory moat they spent years making ready for could not be obligatory. 

Revised steering launched by the SEC final yr indicated that the regulator’s specialised framework is non-compulsory. Based on an evaluation by international legislation agency Winston & Strawn LLP, conventional broker-dealers can now custody digital asset securities beneath commonplace buyer safety guidelines—while not having the license Prometheum devoted time to buying.