Prometheum Files Lawsuit Against Critic Matthew Blumberg Amidst Scam Accusations

Federally accepted digital asset securities platform Prometheum has filed a defamation lawsuit in opposition to crypto commentator Matthew Blumberg.

The dispute stems from a November 6 put up on X, the place the critic accused the agency of working “an unlawful unregistered commodities alternate” and fascinating in shady dealings with the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC).

Free Speech or Defamation?

Prometheum’s complaint, filed within the New York Supreme Courtroom, argues that Blumberg’s statements have been false, baseless, and damaging to its fame. Additional, the corporate claimed that the crypto fanatic sought to spice up his public profile as an trade knowledgeable at its expense. The authorized submitting cites a number of of the analyst’s offending posts, together with one the place he said:

“They’re the scammers who testified in entrance of Congress studying the SEC’s speaking factors in alternate for a sweetheart deal the place they have been the one ones capable of get a broker-dealer license to commerce crypto securities.”

In the identical put up, Blumberg bragged about “always speaking sh*t” about Prometheum whereas calling on the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) to analyze the corporate for allegedly unlawfully working a commodities alternate with regard to its custody of Ethereum.

In one other post, the crypto watcher crowed over a doable implosion of the digital belongings platform as a result of impending departure of present SEC Chair Gary Gensler, whom he implied was some type of protector of the agency.

Prometheum claims that these remarks, amongst others, weren’t solely defamatory but in addition designed to stoke public mistrust. The corporate additional asserted that the feedback have harmed its credibility and market share.

Blumberg Fires Again

Nonetheless, the analyst, supported by outstanding authorized illustration from Boies Schiller Flexner, has defended himself in opposition to the allegations, submitting a countermotion to dismiss on December 16.

Within the submitting, he argued that his observations have been foreclosed by New York’s anti-SLAPP legal guidelines, designed to guard people and entities from lawsuits supposed to silence or intimidate them from exercising their free speech rights on issues of public curiosity.

The crypto fanatic described his social media feedback as “opinions about well-documented considerations” concerning the SEC’s dealings with Prometheum.

He additionally reiterated that the agency was the primary and solely recipient of a special-purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) crypto license from the SEC, issued proper earlier than considered one of its co-CEOs testified earlier than Congress in favor of the regulator. Many within the crypto group have lengthy thought of this a “sweetheart deal,” particularly given how outstanding gamers like Coinbase and Robinhood haven’t been capable of purchase the identical license regardless of attempting on quite a few events.

Even New York Congressman Ritchie Torres beforehand known as for an investigation into the circumstances below which the platform obtained its SPBD license from the monetary watchdog.

Moreover, Blumberg claimed that the corporate had contacted his mom in an obvious bid to bully him via her. He mentioned they needed him to signal a press release extolling their “modern method to crypto markets,” however when he refused, they sued.