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The tussle between the United States SEC and the cryptocurrency sectors is mainly popular. In recent years, the Securities and Exchange Commission has legally troubled dozens of crypto-based firms.
Hester Peirce, the Commissioner of the SEC, has criticized the regulator’s efforts and guidance over crypto custody. She also urges enhanced public interactions. Peirce is primarily known as ‘Crypto Mom.’
During the yearly SEC Speaks conference on April 2, 2024, Peirce notes that a “particularly pernicious weed” had flourished in the “secret garden” of SEC policy guidelines.
She spoke the above quoted statement in response to the Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121). She argued that the SAB 121 was issued with input from the banking sector, but it does not safeguard investors. Nevertheless, due to its capital implications, the giants, experienced banks, and broker-dealers are kept out of the crypto custody business.
“It is driving broker-dealers to allocate significant capital to their crypto custody businesses or to avoid the business altogether. SAB 121 arguably does not protect investors.”
She asserted that if the custodian fails, these assets could be treated as if they blog to the failed entity, not the customer/holders. Most recently, Tom Emmer, a Republican Congressman, termed SAB 121 ‘illegal.’
As per the available information, the SEC has a stance on which cryptocurrencies are considered securities and which are not. Similarly, if a cryptocurrency exchange is offering cryptos that are determined as securities by the SEC, the commission may also attain regulatory supervision over said exchange.
SEC Troubled Crypto-based Firms/ Products
The SEC v. Celsius Network Limited, which the Securities and Exchange Commission filed on July 13, 2023. The SEC v. Coinbase, Inc., et al., the commission filed the lawsuit on July 6, 2023.
SEC v. Binance Holdings Limited, et al., the suit was registered on July 5, 2023.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Payward Inc. and Payward Ventures Inc., together known as Kraken, on November 20, 2023, with operating Kraken’s crypto trading platform as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency.
The list of lawsuits is quite lengthy; as per estimates, there are more than 50 firms that the commission sues.
The series of lawsuits have influenced the Intergalactic Crypto Defense League (ICDL) to develop crypto coins in the name of SEC’s Gary Gensler. Good Gensler (GENSLR) is a memecoin that debuted in the middle of 2023.
Due to hype, the memecoin flourished significantly soon after its launch, but the volume has been constantly decreasing over the past few weeks. There is speculation that the project might be a scam.
Crypto Market Overview
Since the past 48 hours, the cryptocurrency market has been bleeding at the verge; it slipped 5.60%, and at the time of writing, it was $2.42 Trillion. Bitcoin’s (BTC) price plummeted severely; it fell below $64k three times in an hour.
When writing, BTC was trading at $66,203. A significant decline in the market cap of Bitcoin was seen, but the bulls refilled the gap in a few minutes.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions stated by the author or any other person in this article are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.
