• Commentary,  Opinion,  Regulation

    Crypto’s Illness: Regulatory Reluctance

    Pending court decisions challenge SEC’s failed ‘regulation by enforcement’ strategy

    The U.S. crypto industry has been learning a rough lesson in regulatory compliance in the past few months. With fines, cease and desist orders, agency warnings, and traditional finance counterparties withdrawing from the industry, it is becoming increasingly apparent that crypto has a compounding problem. Press play to hear a narrated version of this story, presented by AudioHopper. The origin of this isn’t FTX, Voyager Digital, Terra Luna, or any other of the business failures or frauds of 2022. Those are symptoms of another disease. The sickness that’s causing crypto to fumble in front of U.S. regulators and counterparties goes all the way back to the founding principles of Bitcoin…

  • Regulation,  United States

    Sens. Lummis and Gillibrand Issue Serious, Thoughtful Crypto Proposal

    Responsible Financial Innovation Act isn’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a start

    On Tuesday, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), introduced the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, aimed at — finally— creating a real regulatory framework for digital assets. The senators stated in their press release that the goal of the legislation was to encourage “responsible financial innovation, flexibility, transparency and robust consumer protections while integrating digital assets into existing law.” This is a laudable goal. And painfully overdue. But as with any legislation—especially a groundbreaking bill in a fast-changing part of technology—it’s very tough to assess this proposal’s strengths. We read the entire 69-page bill. And there’s even a helpful 6-page summary. To our eyes, this proposed legislation is a rock-solid…

  • CFTC investigating Binance
    Cryptocurrencies,  Regulation

    CFTC investigating Binance for American crypto customers: Report

    The enforcement agency may be investigating whether the No. 1 cryptocurrency exchange still serves American clients, despite claims that it does not

    Binance began kicking U.S. customers off its platform in November—even though it had closed its platform to Americans on June 14, 2019—after setting up the independent exchange Binance.US in the country. At the time, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said Binance.US would “bring the security, speed, and liquidity of Binance.com to North America,” in full regulatory compliance with all U.S. laws.

  • Chris Brummer to head CFTC
    Cryptocurrencies,  Regulation

    DC Fintech Week head Chris Brummer to head CFTC: Report

    The Georgetown Law professor would be the third Biden Administration nominee to a major financial regulator position with a deep knowledge of cryptocurrencies

    A crypto-trifecta could be coming home if reports that President Joe Biden plans to nominate Chris Brummer, a Georgetown University Law School professor, as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are true.