Coinbase wins approval to offer crypto futures trading in US

By Reuters Staff. (Reuters). August 16, 2023.

Coinbase Global (COIN.O) said on Wednesday it had secured approval to offer cryptocurrency futures to U.S. retail customers, scoring a major regulatory win even as the crypto exchange battles a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Shares of the company climbed 5.5% to $83.52 in premarket trading. The approval was granted by the National Futures Association (NFA), a self-regulatory organization designated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“This is a critical milestone that reaffirms our commitment to operate a regulated and compliant business,” Coinbase said.

The company has openly criticized the SEC, which in a June lawsuit accused Coinbase of operating illegally because it had failed to register as an exchange.

CEO Brian Armstrong has also said more U.S. crypto companies could move offshore due to a hostile regulatory environment and that SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s enforcement-first approach could stifle innovation in the industry.

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Gary Gensler’s gross SEC overreach

By John Deaton. August 21, 2022. (FOX Business).

The Supreme Court may have recently struck down overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency, but at the Securities and Exchange Commission, chairman Gary Gensler remains undeterred in expanding the agency’s power beyond its constitutional boundaries.

For proof, you need no better example than his all-out assault on the cryptocurrency space.

It doesn’t take a constitutional law expert to understand that the SEC has limited jurisdiction over the crypto industry; barring congressional action, front line regulation of digital assets belongs with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission – the main regulator of investments that are not deemed traditional securities.

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Crypto industry scores a big win under long anticipated Senate bill

A highly anticipated Senate proposal to bring the freewheeling cryptocurrency industry under federal oversight would deliver a win for the sector by empowering its preferred regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), over the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The bill’s sponsors, Sens. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), are touting it as the first serious effort to apply comprehensive regulation to the crypto industry, which has minted a new class of billionaires and promised to reinvent financial services while also spawning scams and investor wipeouts that have raised regulators’ alarms.

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Crypto industry would get its preferred regulator under new bill

By Tory Newmeyer. April 28, 2022. (Washington Post)

As Washington policymakers wrangle over how to oversee cryptocurrency, a new bipartisan proposal would give the rapidly expanding sector a victory by handing authority to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), seen by the industry as a more benevolent regulator.

The bill — introduced Thursday by Republican Reps. Glenn Thompson (Pa.) and Tom Emmer (Minn.) and Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.) and Darren Soto (Fla.) — would allow crypto trading platforms to register with the CFTC.

Crypto interests have been pressing for months to empower the relatively small agency tasked with regulating financial derivatives to oversee digital assets.They view it as a friendlier option than the Securities and Exchange Commission, where Chair Gary Gensler has described the crypto industry as rife with scams and pursued aggressive enforcement cases.

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Concerns rise over crypto regulation as Congress members disclose holdings

By Akayla Gardner and Bloomberg. April 26, 2022. (Fortune)

As efforts to regulate the rapidly-growing cryptocurrency market increase, some observers are raising concern about the rising number of U.S. lawmakers beginning to dabble in digital assets.

Current members of Congress bought and sold an estimated $1.8 million worth of crypto-related investments since the beginning of 2021, according to an analysis conducted by data provider 2iQ Research. The amount is based on the midpoint of dollar ranges reported by lawmakers in public disclosures.

The findings come amid a broader backlash against members of Congress being able to trade securities while in office. In the case of crypto, the debate is taking place as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are still staking out their roles in regulating the asset class. The tug-of-war puts committees like Senate Banking and Agriculture, which oversee the SEC and CFTC, in a position to address crypto-regulation policy.

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Since Chairman Patrick McHenry threatened to SUBPOENA Gary Gensler for NON-COMPLIANCE with Congressional oversight.

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