In a press release, One River Digital Asset Management, and its partner One River Asset Management announced the addition of Jay Clayton to its Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council. Clayton is a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is considered a detractor of cryptocurrencies.
At least in practice and under his administration (2017-2020), all requests made to approve a Bitcoin-based Exchange Traded Fund were denied on several occasions. Clayton will begin his duties immediately alongside Jon Orszag and Kevin Hasset.
Helping to shape a new industry?
Clayton’s last decision as head of the SEC was to introduce a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, and others for allegedly illegally selling a security, the XRP token. For the time being, the parties have been unable to settle and are in the early stages of the legal process. The former SEC chairman stated the following about joining the firm in a joint statement:
We were impressed by Eric’s willingness to hear our varying views on the digitization of our monetary, banking and capital markets ecosystem and One River’s commitment to transparency. We look forward to working with One River as the effects of digitization on our markets play out across the globe
River Asset Management founder, CEO, and CIO Eric Peters had this to say about Clayton and the new additions to the firm’s team:
We are excited to have brought together such a distinguished group with deep and varying regulatory and policy experience and will continue to broaden the council to include thought leaders with diverse backgrounds and expertise.
Peters added that the council formed by Clayton is an entity created to examine crypto investment opportunities and how they can coexist with current policies. Despite Clayton’s track record, Peters believes that his involvement will help them to
think through how to advance these frameworks in ways that ensure the US continues to lead the world in financial innovation and asset management.
Bitcoin is trading at $57,494 with 4.5% gains on the 1-hour chart, presenting sideways movement on the 7-day chart.
