• Regulation,  United States

    Rohit Chopra Backs SEC’s ‘Regulation By Enforcement’ Regime

    Agency head wants to bully state AG’s into enforcing CFPB rules

    Rohit Chopra, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, signaled in an interview with American Banker yesterday that his agency may move on an enforcement action relating to cryptocurrencies at the same time that the Securities Exchange Commission is also looking at regulatory action concerning the sector. American Banker’s Kate Berry asked Chopra how concerned he was about “crypto,” stating that “You have complaints from consumers who say their money has been stolen.” Chopra replied, “Well, it’s interesting. Right now, cryptocurrencies are really primarily in the speculative trading markets. There is a question though about what happens when some of that is riding the rails of the Big Tech firms or…

  • Regulation,  Uncategorized,  United States

    Appeals Court Deals Major Blow to SEC

    DC Court limits agency’s reach in a decision with major crypto implications

    Crypto may have won a major court battle yesterday. And the decision didn’t even involve crypto. In a ruling released Tuesday, a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “the SEC had exceeded its authority under federal law when it issued a 2020 order overhauling the governance of the data feeds.” This was a technical ruling on a case that has nothing to do with crypto. Basically, the SEC had sided with brokers that have maintained forever that exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq wield monopolies and use that power to…

  • 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…

  • Cryptocurrencies,  People,  Politics,  Technology,  United States

    Can Cryptocurrency Disrupt The Dollar?

    Meme token pumps, politicians give their take, and old vs new money

    Santa Floki On Christmas day, Elon Musk made a seemingly harmless tweet about his dog, Floki, wearing a Santa Claus costume. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX generates social media buzz with nearly every tweet he makes. This tweet in particular caused some select individuals to make a lot of money. Santa Floki (HOHOHO) is one of the thousands of dog based meme tokens that float around the cryptocurrency community. The meme token has seen gains of over 5000% in a couple days, all because of an Elon Musk tweet. Musk was not referring to the Santa Floki token, but was literally making a Twitter post about his dog for…