Company: ARBK
Filing Date: 2025-05-15
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001104659-25-049311
Chunk: 17

Company: Argo Blockchain Plc
Filing Date: 2025-05-15
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 17
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 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, fall within the definition of a “commodity” under the U. S. Commodities Exchange Act of 1936, as amended (the “ CEA”). Under the CEA, the CFTC has broad enforcement authority to police market manipulation and fraud in spot cryptocurrency markets in which we may transact. Beyond instances of fraud or manipulation, the CFTC generally does not oversee cash or spot market exchanges or transactions involving cryptocurrencies that do not utilize margin, leverage, or financing. The National Futures Association (“ NFA”) is the self- regulatory agency for the U. S. futures industry, and as such has jurisdiction over Bitcoin futures contracts and certain other cryptocurrency derivatives. However, the NFA does not have regulatory oversight authority for the cash or spot market for cryptocurrency trading or transactions. In addition, CFTC regulations and CFTC oversight and enforcement authority apply with respect to futures, swaps, other derivative products, and certain retail leveraged commodity transactions involving cryptocurrencies, including the markets on which these products trade.

The SEC has taken the position that many cryptocurrencies may be securities under U. S. federal securities laws. Some senior members of the staff of the SEC have expressed the view that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities under U. S. federal securities laws. However, such statements are not official policy statements by the SEC and reflect only the speakers’ views, which are not binding on the SEC or any other agency or court and cannot be generalized to any other cryptocurrency. The SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology published a framework for analyzing whether any given cryptocurrency is a security in April 2019, however this framework is also not a rule, regulation or statement of the SEC and is similarly not binding on the SEC. Notwithstanding that the SEC has not asserted regulatory authority over Bitcoin or trading or ownership of Bitcoin and has not expressed the view that Bitcoin should be classified or treated as a security for purposes of U. S. federal securities laws, the SEC has commented on Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related market developments and has taken action against investment schemes involving Bitcoin. For example, the SEC has charged at least three Bitcoin mining companies in connection with a Ponzi scheme to defraud investors in their mining operation. The SEC has also repeatedly denied proposed rule changes by exchanges to list and trade shares of certain Bitcoin-related investment vehicles on public markets, citing significant investor protection concerns regarding the markets for cryptocurrencies, including the potential for market manipulation and fraud. Although the SEC has not stated that mining Bitcoin is itself a regulated activity, to the