Tag: Regulation

SEC Treating Ripple Like a Ponzi Schemer, Not Shaper of Future

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By JW Verret. October 27, 2022. (Real Clear Markets).

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) case against Ripple, the largest case it has brought against a defendant working in the crypto industry to date, has been heating up this month with a series of summary motions and some big discovery losses for the SEC. The SEC alleges in that case that one test for a security required to register with the SEC, contained in the 1946 Supreme Court case SEC v Howey, applies to the XRP token that is used by Ripple.

The SEC should admit the secret it isn’t saying out loud to the court and everyone watching the case. The test used in SEC v. Howey is typically used by the SEC to sue hucksters, Ponzi schemers and other con men who sell fake securities. The Howey test is a way to stop them, not a means to facilitate registration with the SEC.

Read the full article here.

SEC Chair Gensler’s War On Crypto Is About His Resume

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By Roslyn Layton. October 29, 2021. (Forbes).

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler’s crusade against cryptocurrencies has surprised many. His three-year stint as a senior advisor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative before leading the SEC suggested that he would bring an enlightened approach to crypto. No such luck.

Gensler’s foray into cryptocurrencies appears to be more a professional resume builder than a coherent regulatory vision for the innovation that can democratize finance. Along the way, he’s been happy to play along with the SEC’s word games on whether crypto is a currency or security, as long as it moves him to center stage. It’s part of the DC playbook: the regulatory white knight confirmed on the premise to make things right, implements some industry-friendly policy marketed as pro-consumer, and then takes the next plumb job.

Many misread Gensler. His MIT perch conferred the appearance of academic expertise on blockchain. It turns out there is little record of him writing or speaking about the technology until the school hired him in 2018. His few academic presentations were co-authored by the driving force of the school’s crypto program, Media Lab director Joichi Ito. Gensler’s MIT speeches and interviews were not about the substance of blockchain but rather commentary curated to make him look like a policy expert.

Read the Full Article Here.

The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why.

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By Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase. September 7, 2021.

Last Wednesday, after months of effort by Coinbase to engage productively, the SEC gave us what’s called a Wells notice about our planned Coinbase Lend program. A Wells notice is the official way a regulator tells a company that it intends to sue the company in court. As surprised as we were at the SEC’s threat to sue without ever telling us why, we want to be transparent with you about the course of events leading up to it.

Background

Coinbase has been proactively engaging with the SEC about Lend for nearly six months. We’ve been eager to hear their perspective as we explore innovative ways for our customers to gain more financial empowerment on Coinbase. Specifically for Lend, we’re seeking to allow eligible customers to earn interest on select assets on Coinbase, starting with 4% APY on USD Coin (USDC). We could have simply launched the product but we chose not to. This is far from the norm in our industry. Other crypto companies have had lending products on the market for years, and new lending products continue to launch as recently as last month. But Coinbase believes in the value of open and substantive dialogue with our regulators. So we took Lend to the SEC first.

What we’ve provided to the SEC

Coinbase’s Lend program doesn’t qualify as a security — or to use more specific legal terms, it’s not an investment contract or a note. Customers won’t be “investing” in the program, but rather lending the USDC they hold on Coinbase’s platform in connection with their existing relationship. And although Lend customers will earn interest from their participation in the program, we have an obligation to pay this interest regardless of Coinbase’s broader business activities. What’s more, participating customers’ principal is secure and we’re obligated to repay their USDC on request.

Read the Full Coinbase Blog Post 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.

With Washington recommitted to innovation, cryptocurrencies need a congressional fix

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By Former Rep. George Nethercutt. June 20, 2021. (The Hill).

Congress just achieved a rare bipartisan feat in passing the “Endless Frontier Act” through the Senate. This bold legislative package recommits the U.S. to technological innovation and global leadership in the race against Chinese domination. At the very least, Republicans and Democrats understand that the U.S. must do more to win this fight. However, unless the Biden administration and Congress change their current attention deficit on cryptocurrencies, America’s efforts may be in vain.

Beneath the headlines and outside of the halls of Congress, federal bureaucrats are actively circumventing Congress and using the courts to regulate the U.S. cryptocurrency industry. The total lack of regulatory clarity in the Securities Act is the main culprit and consensus is building. This is especially evident to observers of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) December 2020 lawsuit against San Francisco-based enterprise software company Ripple over its distribution of the cryptocurrency XRP.

Read the Full Article Here.

“Cryptocurrencies can help solve economic injustice. Democrats shouldn’t fear them”

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By Sheila Warren and Michael Casey. May 28, 2021. (Roll Call).

When Joe Biden won the presidential election, he pledged immediately to begin working on behalf of the voiceless and the underserved: by rebuilding the middle class, heeding science to end the global pandemic and creating lasting recovery that delivers racial and social justice.

Now, with Biden in office and key appointments filled, Democrats have a chance to fulfill those promises. Cryptocurrencies and the revolutionary technology powering them present an unprecedented opportunity to help do so. 

Read the Full Article Here.

NOTE: Sheila Warren is the deputy head of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a member of the forum’s Executive Committee. Michael J. Casey is the chief content officer for CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency news site, and a former columnist for The Wall Street Journal. Warren and Casey co-host CoinDesk’s Money Reimagined podcast.  

Ripple case seen as precedent for cryptocurrency regulation

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By Keith Lewis. May 4, 2021. (Roll Call)

Cryptocurrency experts are closely watching a legal battle between Ripple Labs Inc. and the Securities and Exchange Commission, anticipating the case could establish precedent and clarify the regulatory landscape for digital coin offerings.

The SEC last year sued the company, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging they should have registered XRP under securities law. Ripple and its executives have asked the court to dismiss the case.

Ripple scored wins in preliminary rulings in the federal court, including gaining access to internal SEC documents and shielding its executives’ personal bank records from discovery. Holders of Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency at issue in the litigation were also granted permission in April to intervene in the case.

Read the Full Article Here.

Cryptocurrencies Are Not a Fad, They’re a Revolution. America Needs to Prepare.

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By Bill Tai. May 4, 2021. (Morning Consult).

In the mid-1970s, a cutting-edge group of hackers founded the Homebrew Computer Club in Silicon Valley. Their specialty was developing tools to break into the telephone systems of major corporations, and they went on to create innovative technologies that changed the world, generating millions of dollars in value along the way. One of those hackers was Steve Jobs.

It was in the days of an innovation economy that fostered risk and was free from crushing regulations that I found my start and built a career in technology, as did the founders of companies like Apple, Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco. The disruption of incumbents, however uncomfortable, placed Silicon Valley on the map and put the United States at the forefront of an economic revolution that forever changed the way we live.

As we near the end of the coronavirus pandemic and step into a new chapter of our nation’s economy, one that’s more digitally connected than ever before, we should create policies to foster this same sense of innovation within today’s tech sector. Under the new leadership of the Biden administration, America has an opportunity to take a fresh look at one such disruptive technology: blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Read the Full Article Here.