Prometheum Files Lawsuit Against Critic Matthew Blumberg Amidst Scam Accusations

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

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

Free Speech or Defamation?

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

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

In the identical submit, 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 change with regard to its custody of Ethereum.

In one other post, the crypto watcher crowed over a doable implosion of the digital property platform because of the 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

Nevertheless, the analyst, supported by distinguished 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 had been foreclosed by New York’s anti-SLAPP legal guidelines, designed to guard people and entities from lawsuits meant 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” relating to 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 neighborhood have lengthy thought of this a “sweetheart deal,” particularly given how distinguished gamers like Coinbase and Robinhood haven’t been in a position to purchase the identical license regardless of attempting on quite a few events.

Even New York Congressman Ritchie Torres beforehand referred to as for an investigation into the circumstances beneath which the platform acquired 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 stated they wished him to signal an announcement extolling their “revolutionary method to crypto markets,” however when he refused, they sued.