Tag: SEC

SEC enforcement action creates a silver lining for GMX, Lido (LDO) and Maker (MKR) price

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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has started ramping up its crackdown on the crypto industry and recent enforcement actions had a negative impact on crypto prices last week and at the start of this week.  The SEC is focusing on stablecoin issuers. The most recent SEC stablecoin crackdown was on Feb. 13 through the issuance of a Wells Notice to Paxos Trust Company, the issuer of Binance USD (BUSD). While Paxos denies that BUSD is a security, which would place it outside the SEC’s jurisdiction, some lawyers…

Is the SEC Really the Bad Guy?

But there’s little point whining about the SEC’s post-facto virtue-signaling – the agency has the power, and seems unlikely to change its stripes any time soon. There’s more alpha in engaging with the realpolitik of its operative logic than in grousing about how unfair it is. That’s especially true because, well, there really was a lot of embarrassing and damaging crypto fraud last year. As Bloomberg’s Matt Levine points out, even the most reasonable counterpoints to misplaced regulation are going to fall on deaf ears once people lose enough money.…

SEC Proposal Could Bar Investment Advisers From Keeping Assets at Crypto Firms

One of the commissioners, Mark Uyeda, raised a key point for crypto: If the agency is trying to force advisers to go to banks with their clients’ crypto assets, and the bank regulators are cautioning banks against crypto activity, is it making crypto investing impossible through the advisers? He said the proposal in multiple ways seems to “mask a policy decision” to block crypto activity, though he initially chose to support it. Source

The SEC Is Taking Aim at Paxos and (Annoyingly) It’s Good For Bitcoin

I want to put aside the staking provider conversation to focus on the consequences of policies aimed at Paxos and stablecoins instead. With stablecoins as the focus, the White House’s sentiment encapsulated in the above quote is perfect, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who could argue against it in good faith. Expanding access to sound financial services empowers people, which raises the quality of life across the board. But sentiment needs to be met with action to mean anything. Source

Crypto regulation decided by Congress, not the SEC: Blockchain Association

Despite attempts to police cryptocurrency through enforcement actions, United States financial regulators “are bound by legal reality” and Congress will ultimately decide crypto regulations the policy expert for the crypto advocacy group Blockchain Association has suggested. The association’s chief policy officer, Jake Chervinsky, shared his views in an extensive Feb. 14 Twitter thread on the state of crypto policy. He noted neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “has the authority to comprehensively regulate crypto.” 14/ No matter how many enforcement actions the…

Circle squashes rumors of planned SEC enforcement action

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USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle has denied rumors that it received a “Wells Notice” over its United States dollar-pegged stablecoin. On Feb. 14, a now-deleted tweet from Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett claimed Circle had been ordered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to cease the sale of USDC — due to the stablecoin being an unregistered security.  However, the rumor was swiftly rebuffed by Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle Pay on Twitter just 15 minutes after Terrett’s tweet, noting his…

Blockchain Association files amicus brief in Wahi case, says SEC exceeded authority

The Blockchain Association filed an amicus brief Feb. 13 in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against former Coinbase Global product manager Ishan Wahi and his associates. The advocacy group expressed its support for the defendants’ argument for dismissal, where they claimed the SEC had exceeded its authority in the case. The case alleging unregistered securities sales of nine tokens is being heard in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington. Calling the case “the latest salvo in the SEC’s apparent ongoing strategy of regulation by enforcement…

Expect the SEC to use its Kraken playbook against staking protocols

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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled with Kraken on Feb. 9 for an action taken against the exchange’s staking rewards program. Kraken paid a $30 million fine and agreed to halt the program. Set aside for a moment the irony that the SEC is going after a solvent firm in the crypto space with a decade-long reputation as a good actor. Kraken has been helping settle verified Bitcoin (BTC) claimants from the hacking of rival exchange Mt. Gox over a decade ago. It invented the use of…

Bitcoin price clings to $22K as investors digest the recent SEC actions and CPI report

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After twenty days of holding the $22,500 support, Bitcoin (BTC) price finally broke down on Feb. 9. Bullish traders had placed their hope on a sustained rally, but this has been replaced by a tight trading range with resistance at $22,000.  The downtrend is even more concerning since the S&P 500 is trading near its highest level in six months, yet the wider crypto market continues to correct. Regulatory pressure, mainly in the United States, can explain Bitcoin’s recent lackluster performance. For starters, on Jan. 9, Kraken exchange reached an…