Heads up, everybody! We are launching a weekly news recap, so stay tuned after the interview to find out about the top stories in crypto this week! (Links below.)
Zachary Fallon, principal at Blakemore Fallon and former SEC staffer, explains why the SEC penalty against Block.One, which raised $4 billion in a yearlong ICO, got a penalty of just $24 million and didn't have to register EOS tokens as securities. He also discusses how this differs from the Kik case, what we can learn from another SEC order this week against Nebulous and what other gray areas remain for potential token issuers who may want to sell to U.S. citizens. We also go over the Crypto Rating Council, and what significance those ratings could have on the way they are regulated, if any.
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Episode links:
SEC press release about the Block.One settlement: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-202
SEC Order re. Block.One: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2019/33-10714.pdf
Cooley letter on Block.one: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2019/block.one-093019-506.pdf
Katherine Wu’s annotated settlement: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ac136ed12b13f7c187bdf21/t/5d92c33d937a3466c0c723a9/1569899329538/33-10714.pdf
SEC action on Nebulous: https://www.sec.gov/enforce/33-10715-s
Jake Chervinsky tweet storm on the settlement: https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1179162527541993472?s=20
Marco Santori tweet storm on the settlement: https://twitter.com/msantoriESQ/status/1178811671621591040?s=20
Crypto Rating Council: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-exchanges-including-coinbase-to-rate-digital-assets-11569835801
CRC ratings thus far: https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1178627290676301824?s=20
Articles from this week’s news recap:
Paypal to Back Out of Libra Association: https://www.ft.com/content/6af11092-e5fd-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc
Visa, Mastercard, Other Libra Association Members Jittery: https://www.wsj.com/articles/visa-mastercard-others-reconsider-involvement-in-facebook-s-libra-network-11569967023
Federal Advisory Doesn’t Like Libra: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/bankers-advising-fed-board-describe-libra-as-a-monetary-threat
SEC press release about the order: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-202
The order itself: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2019/33-10714.pdf
Larry Cermak of The Block on the order: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/41612/dont-ask-for-permission-hire-good-lawyers-and-then-ask-for-forgiveness
Letter from House Reps re digital dollar: https://static.coindesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Foster-Hill-US-Crypto.pdf
Crypto Rating Council: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-exchanges-including-coinbase-to-rate-digital-assets-11569835801
Cermak tweet storm: https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1178622451451867136?s=20
Blockchain executive departures: http://thein.fo/9a4fd2f9cab44d7d
LedgerX-CFTC dispute: https://www.coindesk.com/ledgerx-claims-personal-animus-drove-ex-cftc-chair-to-stall-approvals
Tweets by Paul Chou directed at the CFTC: https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177689857763807235?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177690348883197953?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177693761050157058?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177694467043680256?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177711475760218113?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177715093251018752?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177722516497928192?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177724302927581185?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177724477439971328?s=20
Paul Chou’s tweet storm: https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1178328955859951617?s=20
Explanation of the Fairwin Ponzi: https://medium.com/@PhABC/the-collapse-of-fairwins-125m-ponzi-scheme-61a66b273420
Martin Koeppelman graph on Fairwin: https://twitter.com/koeppelmann/status/1178781425585328129/photo/1
Fun Bits:
Bloomberg interview with Jered Kenna: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/an-early-bitcoin-millionaire-loses-his-love-for-the-industry
My Forbes story on how Kenna lost his Bitcoin: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/12/20/hackers-have-stolen-millions-of-dollars-in-bitcoin-using-only-phone-numbers/
Jackson Palmer of Why We're Not Decentralized Yet - Ep.048
Laura's TEDx Talk: How Crypto Could Allow More People to Be Their Own Boss - Ep.047
The Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork: Bitcoin ABC vs. Bitcoin SV - Ep.046
Emin Gun Sirer on the SEC/EtherDelta Settlement and Why Code Is Speech - Ep.045
Charlie Lee, aka Satoshi Lite, on the 10-Year Anniversary of the Bitcoin White Paper - Ep.044
Fidelity Digital Asset Services' Tom Jessop on Why It's Serving Institutional Clients First - Ep.043
Why the Tether Situation Brought Up Memories of Mt. Gox - Ep.042
How We're Misusing the Word 'Decentralization' - Ep.041
How Abra Enables You to Buy $5 of an ETF-Like Token of the Top 10 Cryptos - Ep.040
Rune Christensen of MakerDao on Its $15 Million From Andreessen Horowitz - Ep.039
Why 'Ethereum Killers' Will Have a Hard Time Attracting Its Developers - Ep.038
Alex Sunnarborg of Tetras Capital on Why He's Bearish on Ether - Ep.037
Shapeshift's About-Face: Why Now? - Ep.036
Pamela Morgan on How to Pass Your Crypto Assets On to Your Heirs - Ep.035
Joe Lubin and Jimmy Song Work On the Terms of Their Bet on Dapps — and Trash Talk the Other’s Coin - Ep.034
How Crypto Will Give You More Flexibility in Your Work - Ep.033
Why the ICE/Bakkt News Makes Some Crypto Investors Nervous - Ep.032
A Place Where People May Be Using Crypto For More Than Speculation - Ep.031
CoinList's Andy Bromberg on the One Big Regulatory Issue Facing Crypto - Ep.030
Token Economy's Stefano Bernardi on How DAOs Could Create a Less Capitalist World - Ep.029
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