SEC Charges Former Coinbase Product Manager With Insider Trading

Ishan Wahi “repeatedly tipped the timing and content of upcoming listing announcements” to his brother, Nikhil Wahi, and his friend, Sameer Ramani, the SEC claims in the complaint

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share
  • The SEC alleges that a former Coinbase product manager and people close to him traded cryptocurrencies based on confidential information
  • The insider trading profits totaled more than $1.1 million, the SEC claims

The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced insider trading charges against a former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi, his brother and his friend Thursday. 

The SEC alleges that the group “perpetrated a scheme to trade ahead of multiple announcements regarding certain crypto assets that would be made available for trading on the Coinbase platform,” according to the statement released Thursday. 

The SEC claims that Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager, traded cryptoassets based on confidential information he obtained from helping coordinate public token listings on the exchange. 

Ishan “repeatedly tipped the timing and content of upcoming listing announcements” to his brother, Nikhil Wahi, and his friend, Sameer Ramani, the SEC claims in the complaint. 

“Ahead of those announcements, which usually resulted in an increase in the assets’ prices, Nikhil Wahi and Ramani allegedly purchased at least 25 crypto assets, at least nine of which were securities, and then typically sold them shortly after the announcements for a profit,” the complaint read. “The long-running insider trading scheme generated illicit profits totaling more than $1.1 million.”

The SEC has not yet charged any issuers or exchanges associated with the nine tokens it classified as securities.

In April, Coinbase said in a tweet the exchange was publishing a list of potential assets that could be listed on the exchange in the second quarter of 2022. 

Jordan Fish, who hosts the “Up Only” podcast, tweeted shortly after that he found an ETH address that apparently purchased “hundreds of thousands of dollars of tokens” of the tokens listed in the report ahead of it being published. 

Loading Tweet..

This is a developing story.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).png

Research

Aave’s revenues have doubled from April lows and are fast approaching all-time highs. With 35% of borrow interest coming from ETH and 55% from stablecoins, Aave is emerging as a powerful proxy as an ETH and stablecoin beta. As looping strategies accelerate growth and Horizon positions the protocol to ride the RWA wave, Aave is shaping up as one of DeFi’s most compelling multi-narrative plays.

article-image

Private testnet aims to deliver low-cost settlement with partners including Visa, Deutsche Bank, and OpenAI

by Blockworks /
article-image

Solana saw $78 million in REV for August

article-image

Lit Protocol’s Vincent is shifting agentic finance from toy demos to production rails

article-image

The new system aims to unify Europe’s fragmented tokenized asset settlement and cut cross-border costs

by Blockworks /
article-image

Tron slashed fees by 60% as Plasma looms, threatening its USDT moat

article-image

The acquisition adds evaluation-based funding to Kraken Pro, giving traders access to capital on performance

by Blockworks /