Mango Markets hires representative to handle US regulatory scrutiny

Decentralized exchange Mango Markets is recruiting new resources to handle the ongoing scrutiny from United States regulatory authorities. 

As per a proposal on Mango’s governance forum, the decentralized autonomous organization running the exchange plans to approve a budget of $250,000 in USD Coin (USDC) on Jan. 6. The fund will be allocated for hiring a representative tasked with addressing inquiries from “some regulators” concerning Mango Markets.

Upon approval, MangoDAO will be represented by Poland-based company Cyberbyte with a one-year term. The company is owned by crypto developer Adrian Brzeziński, who is also a contributor to Mango Markets. The representative’s responsibilities include hiring legal counsel and facilitating “amicable resolutions to the U.S. regulatory matters.”

The Mango Markets protocol was exploited in October, resulting in a loss of $116 million worth of cryptocurrencies. The attack was led by Avraham Eisenberg, who manipulated the value of Mango’s native token, MNGO, to obtain significant loans against the inflated collateral.

Related: Mango Markets exploiter said actions were ‘legal,’ but were they?

Eisenberg later identified himself as the exploiter, claiming to have undertaken a “highly profitable trading strategy” under “legal open market actions.” In December, however, he was arrested in Puerto Rico under charges of market manipulation and fraud.

The trader faces lawsuits from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Department of Justice (DOJ). Mango Markets also filed a lawsuit against Eisenberg. He has largely been held in U.S. custody since being arrested, awaiting trial in April. In addition, the episode landed Mango Markets on the radar of U.S. regulators:

“Following the Mango Markets exploit in October of 2022, there has been investigations by U.S. regulators (DOJ, SEC, and CFTC) against Eisenberg for his role in the exploit. In addition to those actions, some regulators have made their own inquiries into Mango Markets. These inquiries will be collectively be referred to as the ‘U.S. regulatory matters.‘”

As a representative for MangoDAO, Cyberbyte will receive an initial flat fee payment of $30,000, followed by an hourly rate of $500 in USDC.

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