Tag: cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency Firms Push Back Against Proposal to Police Treasury Markets

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By Paul Kiernan. April 27, 2022. (Wall Street Journal)

WASHINGTON—A Securities and Exchange Commission proposal intended to make Treasury markets more resilient has sparked a backlash from cryptocurrency companies, which say it could increase legal risks for so-called decentralized finance, or DeFi, platforms.

The rule, proposed by the SEC in January, would expand the agency’s definition of an exchange to include a broader array of communication systems that enable prospective buyers and sellers of securities to find each other. Such entities would have to register with the SEC either as exchanges akin to the New York Stock Exchange, or as a category of broker-dealers called alternative trading systems, or ATSs, which perform exchange-like functions but face lighter regulations.

Read the full article here.

Concerns rise over crypto regulation as Congress members disclose holdings

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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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Crypto firm Ripple’s court battle with the SEC has gone ‘exceedingly well,’ CEO says

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By Ryan Browne. April 14, 2022. (CNBC)

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is confident the company will come out well as its lengthy court battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nears a conclusion.

The San Francisco-based start-up is fighting the SEC over allegations that Ripple, Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen engaged in an illegal securities offering through sales of XRP, a cryptocurrency the company both uses commercially and is closely associated with.

Ripple has disputed the SEC’s findings, arguing XRP should be treated as a virtual currency rather than an investment contract like a stock.

“The lawsuit has gone exceedingly well, and much better than I could have hoped when it began about 15 months ago,” Garlinghouse said at a CNBC-hosted fireside chat at the Paris Blockchain Week Summit Thursday. “But the wheels of justice move slowly.”

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Politicians Are Waking Up To The Fact There Are Votes In Crypto

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By Eva Szalay. April 14, 2022. (Financial Times)

Jane Hume, Australia’s minister for financial services, argued in a speech last month that the rapidly growing crypto industry had the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and boost Australia’s economic growth by more than 50 per cent. But if the country voted for the opposition Labor party at the May 21 national election, she said, none of this would happen. Australia would lose out because the opposition would ban digital assets “out of timidity [and] an obsession with removing all risks and protecting consumers from themselves”. The contrast, she said, could not be more stark with the current government, which wanted Australians to take part in the digital gold rush.

“There is a political reality here. I would love support of the crypto industry to be a bipartisan issue, but it simply isn’t,” she told her audience.

This is the sound of politicians waking up to the voter potential of crypto enthusiasts. Bitcoin and its peers have surged in popularity since the start of the pandemic and millions of people around the world now own digital assets, which are worth more than $2tn in total.

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Former SEC Director accused of corruption, how might this affect the Ripple case?

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By Samuel Wan. April 11, 2022. (Cryptoslate).

Whistleblower group Empower Oversight has released details of emails received in a freedom of information request related to the ongoing SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit.

Among the 200 pages or so, they say there is evidence that former SEC Director William Hinman had a conflict of interest while initiating legal proceedings against Ripple.

The point of contention centers around Hinman’s involvement with the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance via New York-based legal firm Simpson Thacher. This was originally reported by CryptoSlate in April 2021.

However, things take a more ominous spin this time as the emails reveal damning information not known last year.

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EXCLUSIVE U.S. SEC’s enforcement cop says crypto company amnesty is not on the table

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By Chris Prentice. February 28, 2022. (Reuters)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will not offer amnesty to cryptocurrency companies that self-report violations of securities laws, although they may face smaller penalties, the agency’s enforcement director told Reuters.

Gurbir Grewal’s first remarks on crypto in an interview provide greater clarity as to how cryptocurrency companies can expect to be treated under the SEC’s new Democratic leadership. The industry has complained that the agency has left it in the dark about how to comply with U.S. rules.

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Beyer Introduces New Legislation to Regulate Digital Assets

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By Rep. Don Beyer (D, VA-8). July 28, 2021. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today introduced the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act, legislation that would protect consumers and promote innovation by incorporating digital assets into existing financial regulatory structures.

“Innovation in the digital asset sector is creating new goods and services every day as well as many new, high-quality jobs. The United States should provide a legal and regulatory environment which promotes this type of innovation and growth,” said Rep. Beyer. “Digital assets and blockchain technology hold great promise, and it is clear that assets like Bitcoin and Ether are here to stay. Unfortunately, the current digital asset market structure and regulatory framework is ambiguous and dangerous for investors and consumers. Digital asset holders have been subjected to rampant fraud, theft, and market manipulation for years, yet Congress has hitherto ignored the entreaties of industry experts and federal regulators to create a comprehensive legal framework. Our laws are behind the times, and my bill would start the long overdue process of updating them to give digital asset holders and investors basic protections.”

Since the introduction of Bitcoin in late 2008 digital assets have evolved from technological curiosities into financial instruments used by millions of ordinary Americans. Today there are over 11,000 separate digital asset tokens in existence, with a market capitalization of over $1.5 trillion.  An estimated 20-46 million Americans own Bitcoin and other digital assets, and that number is expected to grow. Many of these digital asset market participants, who are primarily average Americans rather than large institutional investors, have been victims of theft during trading platform hacks, or been exposed to significant market manipulation or frauds such as ponzi schemes.

Digital assets have also been widely used for money laundering and other illicit purposes. For instance, in May 2021, the Colonial Pipeline, which provides gasoline to much of the eastern United States, had its computer system hacked and was forced to pay a $4.4 million ransom in Bitcoin, which is the preferred currency for ransomware attacks.

Read Rep. Beyer’s Full Statement Here.

Elizabeth Warren Wants The SEC To Kill Crypto. Gary Gensler Had Better Not Agree.

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By Jared Whitley. July 23, 2021. (Seeking Alpha)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has made herself clear that she sees cryptocurrencies as “bogus private digital money” and a kind of social pestilence that needs to be annihilated through regulation. In short, she has no idea what blockchain technology is, what it does, how it works or why people use it – but it has to be stopped and she’s going to stop it.

Like many geriatric progressives approaching their sell-by date in Congress, Warren is so out of step that young progressives in her own party shake their heads at how wrong she is on this one.

But Warren is not some harmless grandmother yelling from her porch – she’s the chair of a Senate Banking subcommittee, and she can do real damage. In a recent letter to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, Warren not so subtly demanded that the agency start grabbing more regulatory power in order to smash U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges. Legal and industry experts believe that Warren colluded with anti-crypto zealots inside the SEC to write that letter as a Beltway power play, hoping to lock in the SEC as “the Terminator” before other agencies, like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), dare to legitimize the utility and benefits of this new technology. Taking a step back, it was an act of desperation by a faction of Washington dinosaurs that are poised to be on the losing side of history, and Gensler’s agency is in turmoil.

Read the Full Article Here.

SEC v. Ripple Labs: Cryptocurrency and “Regulation by Enforcement”

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Check out The Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project’s Deep Dive podcast featuring John Berlau, John Deaton, Carol Goforth, and Roslyn Layton on YouTube. The four, hosted by Curt Levey, discuss the ongoing lawsuit and its potential impacts.

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

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