Just a Coincidence? Coinbase and Polygon Lawyers See Bad Omens in SEC Crackdown - Ep. 458

Unchained

A settlement with Kraken, a proposed custody rule, and lawsuits against Paxos and Terraform Labs. “This week has been a very long year,” said Polygon Labs Chief Policy Officer Rebecca Rettig. She joins Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal to interpret what’s going on with the SEC. Is it just one big push to cripple the crypto industry? “The fact that we’re all … trying to read tea leaves speaks to a failure in the system that relies upon one-off enforcement actions rather than a public rulemaking process,” said Grewal.

Show highlights:

• how the implosion of FTX sped up regulatory actions
• whether the SEC will go after other staking services
• why the statement that crypto firms should just register with the SEC is “disingenuous”
• what seems to be behind the decision to target the BUSD stablecoin
• whether SEC enforcement actions will be detrimental to innovation in the U.S.
• what features would make stablecoins securities
• why the SEC is alleging that the UST stablecoin is a security
• why “expansion of jurisdiction” is at the heart of the SEC’s proposed crypto custody rules
• why Paul thinks that forcing crypto innovation offshore could become a national security issue for the U.S.

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Guests:

Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase:

• Twitter

Rebecca Rettig, Chief Policy Officer at Polygon Labs:

• Twitter

Links

• WIRED: Confusion Spirals in Crypto as the US Cracks Down
• Unchained:
• Circle Told NYDFS That Paxos-Issued BUSD Wasn’t Fully Backed
• SEC Wants Tougher Rules for Crypto Custody
• SEC Sues Do Kwon and Terraform Labs
• WSJ:
• Crypto Firm Paxos Faces SEC Lawsuit Over Binance USD Token
• Regulator Orders Crypto Firm Paxos to Stop Issuing Binance Stablecoin
• Bloomberg: US Crackdown Seeks to Push Crypto Back to the Fringes of Finance
• SEC:
• Pocketful of Quarters, Inc.
• Statement on Safeguarding Advisory Client Assets Proposal
• CoinDesk: SEC Proposal Could Bar Investment Advisers From Keeping Assets at Crypto Firms
• Jesse Powell’s tweet

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