Six members of the US Congress have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice to investigate Prometheum, alleging that the company has connections to the Chinese Communist Party. In a letter sent on July 10, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville and five House members accused Prometheum co-CEO Aaron Kaplan of providing false testimony during a June 13 hearing on regulatory clarity in the cryptocurrency industry. The lawmakers claimed that Prometheum has ties to investors associated with the Chinese Communist Party, specifically Shanghai ai ai-based Wanxiang Blockchain and HashKey Digital Asset Group.
According to Tuberville and the representatives, Kaplan's testimony that Prometheum was developed independently of Wanxiang and HashKey contradicted information provided by the company in SEC filings. They called on SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and Attorney General Merrick Garland to launch an investigation ation into the matter. Many Republican Lawmakers, including the signatories of the letter, have raised concerns about ties to Chinese entities or the Chinese government in the context of cryptocurrency regulation. Former Senator Pat Toomey and Representative Tom Emmer, for example, have voiced reservations about the use of China 's digital yuan at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
However, Tuberville's accusations regarding Prometheum's alleged connections to China were deemed "baseless" and reliant on outdated information. The co-CEOs of Prometheum stated that they terminated all co-development work and strategic relationships with Wanxiang and its affiliates in October 2021, effectively severing all intellectual property and technology ties. They emphasized that Prometheum has taken measures to protect the United States and its citizens from any potential risks.
In addition to the allegations, Aaron Kaplan revealed that the company withdrew from the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a cryptocurrency advocacy group in the United States, in early 2023. The reasons behind this decision were not explicitly mentioned. The call for an investigation into Prometheus us um's alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party highlights the ongoing scrutiny and concerns surrounding national security implications in the cryptocurrency industry.
