Cryptocurrency/Bitcoin

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SEC approves spot Bitcoin ETFs after much hype

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/10/sec-approves-spot-bitcoin-etfs-after-much-hype?

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📈 Axios timeline: Bitcoin's ETF saga

Data: CoinGecko. Chart: Will Chase/Axios The first bitcoin exchange-traded funds started trading today — a gigantic victory for the crypto industry, Axios' Brady Dale, Crystal Kim, Jared Whalen and Erin Davis write. Why it matters: The industry's path to ETF approval has taken longer than anyone ever thought it would. The brilliant minds of Axios Visuals made a trippy timeline that takes you through the key moments of that saga. Worthy of your time: See the full interactive timeline ...

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🤯 1 for the road: Crypto divorce nightmare

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Imagine having listened to your soon-to-be ex-spouse go on and on about bitcoin — only to hear them claim crypto poverty when divorce papers are served, Axios Crypto co-author Crystal Kim writes. Why it matters: Crypto's unique nature makes it trickier to recover than typical assets in a marital split. The big picture: The fact that crypto can be self-custodied or held on a USB drive doesn't change what spouses are legally entitled to, according to Citrin Cooperman Advisors' Mark DiMichael. But the process of investigating what crypto assets a spouse might have could be extensive, even if those funds are sitting at an exchange like Coinbase or Kraken. Keep reading.

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🚀 Why bitcoin's booming

Data: CoinGecko. Chart: Axios Visuals Bitcoin broke $50,000 yesterday for the first time since December 2021, Axios Crypto's Brady Dale writes. Why it matters: It's a sign that there really was consumer demand for a way to invest in cryptocurrency using a familiar investment vehicle like an exchange-traded fund. 💰 The SEC ran out of ways to keep bitcoin ETFs off the public market. So it reluctantly gave the green light to a set of offerings in January while making clear its reservations. When customers buy bitcoin ETFs, issuers must purchase actual bitcoin from the open market to back those instruments.

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📈 New bitcoin record

Data: Coinbase; Chart: Axios Visuals Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high, breaking the $69,225 record set in November 2021, Axios Crypto c0-author Brady Dale reports. ⚡️ Crypto now has been through several booms and busts, and in each bust, the bottom has been a little higher than it was the time before. Bitcoin is up more than 57% over the last three months, and strong growth may continue as fewer coins become available.

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Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

NEW YORK (AP) — Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud on hundreds of thousands of customers that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.

https://apnews.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-cryptocurrency-sentencing-sbf-d7bb1a5e94b4c22039d74dfeab1a2ff1?

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Binance founder sentenced to 4 months in prison

The richest man in the blockchain industry, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), was sentenced in a Seattle federal court Tuesday to four months in prison.

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/30/cz-binance-changpeng-zhao-founder-sentenced?

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💰 Crypto's big Washington week

Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios

The crypto world is having a breakthrough moment in Washington, Axios' Brady Dale and Crystal Kim write. Why it matters: While the White House still seems highly skeptical of crypto, lawmakers — and former President Trump — seem to be coming around. As an anonymous House staffer told Axios: "Congress let crypto out of the penalty box." 🖼️ The big picture: The young industry, long at odds with regulators, is making headway in its campaign to mainstream crypto as a financial asset. Two words sum up crypto's D.C. lobbying campaign: "regulatory clarity." 💸 In the past week: The SEC approved exchange-traded funds for ether — a major crypto coin. Trump announced he'll accept crypto for campaign donations. The House passed a major piece of legislation, called FIT21, seeking to clearly define the SEC's role in regulating crypto.

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Michael Saylor to settle D.C. tax fraud case for $40 million

Crypto billionaire Michael Saylor and the tech company he co-founded, MicroStrategy, will pay $40 million to settle tax fraud allegations in D.C.

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2024/06/03/michael-saylor-microstrategy-tax-fraud-settlement?

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🤝 Trump keeps warming to crypto

🗣️ Trump is in talks to speak at the big Bitcoin 2024 convention in Nashville at the end of July, two sources familiar with the matter tell Axios.

• His embrace of crypto has contrasted with President Biden's coolness toward digital currency — and led some wealthy crypto investors to back the Republican's campaign.

🔬 Zoom in: Bitcoin 2024, an event run by Bitcoin Magazine, will take place July 25-27 — the week after the Republican National Convention. It's seen as the largest Bitcoin event of the year.

• Trump wouldn't be the only presidential candidate at the convention. Independent contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is slated to speak there, as are former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Tennessee GOP Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn.

Read more

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♂️ Bitcoin down, stablecoins up (in crime)

Bitcoin is losing the hearts and minds of criminals, according to a fresh report from Chainalysis.

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/12/bitcoin-down-stablecoins-up-in-crime-crypto?

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Welcome To The Crypto Election

By Freddy Brewster

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Cryptocurrency companies are on an unprecedented spending spree to oust politicians opposed to their agenda and to help elect pro-crypto candidates in the 2024 election cycle. 

The cryptocurrency industry — valued at $2.5 trillion worldwide — has lobbied extensively against regulations to hold its industry accountable for widespread fraud and mismanagement of customer funds following spectacular market failures in 2022 that left many Americans without access to their money.

One of the main political action committees receiving funds from crypto companies has raised more than $202 million since January 2023 — a number that dwarfs the $27 million donated by disgraced former cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried to a similar political action committee in 2022.

Crypto’s booming influence is already in effect: The industry notched wins against politicians who opposed their regulatory agenda during the primary elections, former President Donald Trump has been parroting lobbyists’ questionable data on crypto’s use among Americans, and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, has deep ties to the crypto industry. Vance introduced a bill in 2023 that would shield banks from regulatory pressure to cut ties with customers over reputational risks — allowing them to work more freely with the crypto, gun, and oil and gas industries.

Just this weekend, advisers close to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ presumptive presidential candidate, and other Democrats signaled that they too were open to more pro-crypto policies — highlighting a reset in how Democrats, namely the Biden administration, have pursued crypto policy.

“If we don’t have bitcoin, if we don’t have cryptocurrencies, we’re going to cede leadership in financial innovation of the 21st century,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said during the Bitcoin 2024 conference on July 27. “All the Democrats who have preached that we don’t want to be isolationists, well, isn’t rejecting cryptocurrencies and bitcoin being isolationists?”  

The industry’s lobbyists and donors will likely push key provisions from a shelved bill that would strip oversight authority from the aggressive and heavily-staffed Securities and Exchange Commission, and give it to the less-staffed and less-funded Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The bill could also undermine investor protections, and reduce the ability for states to enforce their own securities laws for cryptocurrencies, experts told The Lever.

As regulations for the nascent industry are still taking shape, this election could define how the crypto industry will be regulated for millions of consumers going forward — and major crypto companies, such as Coinbase and Ripple Labs, as well as venture capitalist firms like a16z, formerly known as Andreessen Horowitz, have poured tens of millions of dollars into the fight.

In a press release describing its political spending, Ripple said the 2024 elections “will be the most consequential in crypto's history.”

"Ripple will not — and the crypto industry should not — keep quiet while unelected regulators actively seek to impede innovation and economic growth that millions of Americans utilize,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. “The crypto industry intends to remain heavily invested in this effort until we see meaningful change."

Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, issued a “call to action” to the alleged 52 million Americans who own crypto to advocate for more pro-crypto policies, however most of the action, money, enthusiasm is coming from just a handful of wealthy people. 

“The bulk of the money and energy is coming from half a dozen people,” said Mark Hays, a senior policy analyst for Americans for Financial Reform, a nonprofit dedicated to consumer protection and strict Wall Street regulations. “It’s [Andreessen Horowitz], it’s Ripple, it’s Coinbase… and not to be crass, but kind of white, male, billionaire Silicon Valley folks who are really looking to shape political outcomes to serve their business objectives through policy.”

The crypto industry has also targeted Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who has staunchly enforced securities law. Crypto companies have often said that current law lacks clarity for cryptocurrencies, but Gensler has levied dozens of enforcement actions against the industry, accusing some companies of offering unregistered securities.

“Breaking the law and not liking the law are different than lack of clarity and, with all due respect, I think that is what we have a lot of in this field,” Gensler said during a recent Senate hearing on June 13. 

“The Crypto Capital Of The Planet”

The crypto industry has promoted the internet-based currencies, claiming that cryptocurrencies are an alternative to government-issued currencies, like the dollar or the yen. Cryptocurrencies have exploded in popularity in recent years, growing into a $2.5 trillion global industry; although, many buying crypto treat these currencies like investments, rather than using them for everyday purchases.

Crypto has been marketed to everyday consumers as a way to fight back against large banks that have screwed regular people over. Crypto companies ran commercials during the Super Bowl, placed ads in key locations around Washington, D.C. during the 2022 primary elections, and publicized that their products were a way to earn passive income.

But Crypto’s boom came to a screeching halt in 2022 after three major exchanges — Celsius, Terra, and Bankman-Fried’s FTX — failed. With the collapse of these online platforms, where digital currencies were bought, sold, and traded, millions of Americans lost access to their funds. Some people lost their life savings, and because the funds are not thoroughly regulated, many of the funds cannot be fully recovered. 

Now, as the 2024 election looms, crypto companies have discarded their old messaging of fighting big banks and standing up for the little guy, by partnering with major banks, leaning into libertarian values, and casting their support for Trump. 

This includes the founder of Kraken, an exchange that allegedly violated sanctions against Iran;  the Winklevoss twins, two brothers who were former business partners with Mark Zuckerberg in the early days of Facebook, who went on to create their own crypto exchange called Gemini; and others.

“President Donald J. Trump is the pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, and pro-business choice,” Tyler Winklevoss posted on X. “It’s time to take our country back. It’s time for the crypto army to send a message to Washington. That attacking us is political suicide.”

Trump has reportedly raised more than $4 million in cryptocurrency donations for his reelection. When he spoke at a bitcoin conference on July 27, he pledged to fire SEC chair Gensler “on day one,” and promised to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet.” 

Trump later held a conference after the event that reportedly cost $800,000 to attend.

Leading the crypto industry’s political movement is Fairshake PAC, a crypto-backed political action committee that has accumulated a staggering $202 million since January 2023. Fairshake has been supporting pro-crypto candidates and trying to oust candidates — mostly Democrats — who have pushed back on the crypto agenda. 

The group has spent more than $12 million against Democrats so far this election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. Josh Vlasto, a Fairshake spokesperson, is also a former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and previously served as chief of staff to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Defend American Jobs, another crypto-focused political action committee, has raised nearly $20 million and spent more than $17 million since September 2023, according to federal election data. 

“The crypto industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to distract policymakers and the public from its long rap sheet of criminal convictions, predatory conduct, illegal behavior, bankruptcies, lawsuits, and scandals,” said Dennis Kelleher, president of consumer advocacy group Better Markets. “These crypto PACs are looking to make the crypto industry’s work in Congress even easier by trying to defeat elected officials who put the public interest first and are not crypto-lackeys."

The amount of money that has poured into campaign coffers has seemingly convinced Vice President Harris to adopt a more friendly position on cryptocurrencies, as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate tries to cozy up to the tech and investor industries by having her advisers meet with industry leaders. 

It’s a transition echoed by others on the left. Fourteen current members of Congress, as well as other politicians, recently sent a letter to Jamie Harrison, the Democratic National Committee chair, urging the party to adopt a more pro-crypto platform, and to potentially fire SEC Chair Gensler. The decision to send the letter appears to stem from the crypto industry’s outsized role in elections.

“There is a public perception that the party holds a negative viewpoint on digital assets, largely due to the current SEC’s approach to these transformative technologies,” the group wrote. “We believe this previous hostility does not reflect our party’s progressive, forward-looking, and inclusive values. From an electoral standpoint, crypto and blockchain technologies have an outsized impact in ensuring victories up and down the ballot.”

Coinbase and a16z did not respond to requests for comment.

Millions To Defeat Crypto Opponents

Before he was charged and sentenced to prison for 25 years, Bankman-Fried, the mop-topped billionaire who fashioned himself as a leader for the crypto industry, frequently lobbied lawmakers and lavishly donated to politicians overseeing key committees governing the crypto industry. 

The industry faced major setback in the spring of 2023, when Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank — two institutions that partnered heavily with crypto and tech companies — failed after funding for start-ups began drying up amid rising inflation, and depositors made a run to pull their money out. 

After the collapse of those institutions, many crypto companies began partnering with major traditional banks that were deemed “too big to fail” during the 2008 financial crisis. These banks include JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and other regional banks. 

These setbacks also opened up space for Coinbase to essentially fill the void vacated by Bankman-Fried.

“[Coinbase has] tried to take a more conservative approach than some of the more Wild West firms out there, but they, like everyone else, have a business model set up that is at odds with basic financial regulatory standards,” Hays with Americans for Financial Reform said.

Coinbase has donated a staggering $51 million to just seven groups so far this election cycle, according to federal records. The exchange gave $500,000 to both the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund — two political action committees dedicated to electing Republicans. 

Coinbase also gave $500,000 to HMP and SMP, two political action committees set up to elect Democrats.  

Nearly $46 million of Coinbase’s spending went to Fairshake alone. Coinbase Commerce, a Coinbase subsidiary, also gave $15.5 million to Fairshake, according to election data, bringing the total that Coinbase gave to Fairshake to at least $61.5 million.

According to OpenSecrets, Fairshake has spent money supporting both Democrats and Republicans, but who the group opposes is much different. Fairshake has spent $0 opposing Republicans and more than $12 million attacking Democrats in tight primary races. 

Fairshake spent the bulk of its money — more than $10 million — opposing Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) during a primary race for a senate seat against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who received an A-rating from the crypto industry. The group also spent more than $2 million opposing Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) during his primary race earlier this year, according to Follow The Crypto, a website dedicated to tracking crypto industry campaign spending.

Both Bowman and Porter were deemed “strongly against crypto” by Stand With Crypto, a nonprofit dedicated to “common-sense regulations for the crypto industry.”

Besides Coinbase, other major donors to Fairshake include Ripple Labs; AH Capital Management, an investment arm of a16z; Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, co-founders of a16z; Jump Crypto, a blockchain technology company; Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss; and Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO.

Coinbase, Ripple Labs, AH Capital Management, Horowitz, Andreessen, and even Fairshake have also donated to Defend American Jobs PAC, another political action committee dedicated to pushing pro-crypto candidates that has raised nearly $20 million. The committee has spent more than $15.5 million supporting Republican candidates so far this election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. 

Additionally, Defend American Jobs has spent more than $500,000 supporting Blake Masters in a Republican primary race for a seat representing Arizona in Congress. Masters previously ran against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in 2022, in which Masters ran an infamous and disturbing ad highlighting his intense love of guns. 

“Rife With Abuse And Fraud”

In addition to generous campaign donations, crypto companies have also zeroed in on the key agencies overseeing their industry.

For years, the crypto industry has lobbied lawmakers and regulators to allow the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to govern crypto, rather than the comparatively heavily-staffed and well-funded Securities and Exchange Commission. The CFTC has only 725 employees, a budget of $365 million, and has traditionally regulated trades and futures contracts for the agricultural and resource-based markets. 

“The weakness that we have, or the shortcoming, is that we have to rely on folks coming to us and providing tips or complaints,” said CFTC Chair Rostin Benham during a June 13 Senate hearing. “We don’t have those traditional regulatory tools — registration, custody, surveillance, oversight — that have really made American capital and derivatives markets so strong.”

The CFTC has oversight authority of bitcoin because the agency considers it a commodity and, to a lesser degree, the agency oversees certain activity on crypto exchanges. But the bulk of crypto regulation has historically been handled by Gensler’s SEC — a sprawling agency with more than 4,600 employees, and a budget of $2.1 billion. 

The SEC has been aggressive at times in issuing enforcement actions against crypto exchanges and developers who create new cryptocurrencies, with actions dating back to 2012. The agency views cryptocurrencies as a security — a financial product akin to a stock issued by a company — which has much stricter oversight and enforcement than commodities overseen by the CFTC.

In 2023, the SEC issued 46 cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions, more than double the amount the agency issued in 2022, according to Cornerstone Research, a financial analysis and legal firm. Crypto companies have painted Gensler as an enemy of crypto, and Gensler has not shied away from that label.

“It is a field that is rife with abuse and fraud,” Gensler said during a June 13 Senate hearing. “And some of the leaders of this whole field are either in jail, about to go to jail, or awaiting extradition. I mean tens of billions of dollars have been put at risk.”

According to lobbying disclosures, crypto companies, trade associations, and nonprofits associated with crypto have spent nearly $7 million in the first two quarters of 2024 lobbying lawmakers and regulators on a slew of crypto-related issues, including the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act — a bill packed with a number of crypto wish-lists. 

Coinbase alone has spent more than $2.3 million so far this year lobbying lawmakers and regulators on the bill and other issues, disclosures show. 

The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act — or FIT21 — would create a new asset class specifically for cryptocurrencies, called “invest contract assets,” which exclude them from the definition of a security, and likely hands oversight from the SEC over to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to an analysis by Better Markets. 

The bill would allow the CFTC to collect registration and annual fees from crypto exchanges, but those fees would be capped at $40 million annually and the ability to collect those fees would expire after four years.

“This fixed cap is especially problematic given the hundreds of exchanges currently offering bitcoins and the need for the CFTC to hire staff, draft regulations, acquire technology, and enforce the provisions of the bill and the new rules,” Better Markets wrote. 

The bill would also, according to Gensler, adopt a structure that runs counter to decades of Supreme Court rulings that establish what is and isn’t a security. He’s concerned this could erode long-standing investor protections, and “undermine the broader $100 trillion capital markets.”

“[Crypto exchanges] are choosing to not comply with U.S. law that protects our capital markets,” Gensler said during Senate testimony. “Whether it is stored on an accounting ledger called blockchain or whether it is stored on a notepad, it doesn’t matter.” 

The House of Representatives passed the crypto bill with two-thirds of lawmakers voting in favor. However, experts predict the bill will likely die in the Senate due to the Senate’s slower process of passing bills. 

Currently standing in the way of the bill’s passage in the Senate is Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, which oversees the bill’s passage in the Senate. Brown has received an F-rating from Stand with Crypto, and has highlighted how cryptocurrencies have been used for illicit purposes.

Key provisions of the bill could still be attached to must-pass legislation before the year's end. 

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-Tenn.) has been one of crypto’s most important cheerleaders and is set to retire at the end of the current session. In an interview with CoinDesk, a crypto-focused news outlet, McHenry said that he is looking at “anything, and everything” to attach crypto legislation to before he leaves. 

“We basically have a consensus product out of the House of Representatives that gives us a fighting chance in every legislative product that makes its way to the President's desk,” McHenry said. 

Hays, with Americans for Financial Reform, said the bill offers a “patina of legitimacy” while undermining consumers and that the crypto industry is using the “Washington pay-to-play” rule book to push their agenda.

“The crypto industry has long claimed that it needs regulatory clarity to address crypto regulation for consumers and investors and that the old rules don't work for them,” Hays said. “The problem is that this bill is really more of a cure that's worse than a disease.”

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Bitcoin Bros and the MAGA Faithful Converge in Nashville — and Embrace an Alternate Reality

Weeks after neo-Nazis marched through the city, attendees at a bitcoin conference laughed off Trump’s racism and authoritarianism.

https://theintercept.com/2024/08/03/trump-nashville-bitcoin-conference/?

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💰 Crypto's big bet

Data: AdImpact. Chart: Axios Visuals Groups trying to elect pro-crypto candidates to Congress are set to spend $21 million more on ads to boost Republicans than they'll spend on Democrats in the run-up to the Nov. 5 election, Axios' Stef W. Kight and Brady Dale report. Why it matters: The industry has been cultivating lawmakers in both parties, with its main PAC — Fairshake — endorsing equal numbers of candidates on each side. But the tens of millions of campaign ad dollars flowing from its affiliate super PACs point to the GOP as the preferred party among the crypto set.

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💰 Crypto roars back

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Today marks two years since CoinDesk published an article that led to the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, the imprisonment of its founder — and declarations that the digital currency dream was dead, Axios' Brady Dale writes. Why it matters: Not only is crypto still alive — it's thriving. 📈 The price of bitcoin hit $72,700 Tuesday afternoon, closing in on March's all-time high — partly on the belief that crypto booster Donald Trump is poised to win the presidential election. Three big developments explain what happened: The launch of bitcoin ETFs: The Bitcoin community has long viewed an ETF as an effective way to make the general investing public comfortable with owning bitcoins. And after a court ruling in January forced the SEC's hand, institutional investors entered the market. A gigantic election war chest: This year, the industry collectively devoted $169 million in contributions to candidates in both parties. Trump's conversion: It's been a frequent talking point for the presidential candidate. 👛 By the numbers: In September, 220 million addresses (wallets that contain digital currency) interacted with a blockchain (networks where crypto moves) at least one time — a record high, according to a report from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. That's many millions of people — though it's hard to pinpoint exactly how many. Keep reading.

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📈 Charted: Bitcoin soars

Data: CoinGecko. Chart: Axios Visuals The price of bitcoin sailed past $80,000 for the first time yesterday, fueled by a burst of optimism from traders betting on support from a Trump White House + GOP Congress. (Financial Times) Bitcoin is up about 18% since Election Day. Bitcoin Bitcoin on Sunday hit a new record above $80,000. The world's largest cryptocurrency is up 80% this year, dwarfing the S&P 500's still-electric 25.7% gain in 2024. The crypto industry believes Donald Trump's presidential victory is a bullish sign for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Although Trump was once a Bitcoin skeptic, once saying it "was based on thin air," he has fully embraced crypto in recent months — unlike the Biden administration, which has sought to rein in crypto. Trump said in August that cryptocurrencies could "define the future," adding he wanted it "mined, minted and made in the USA." The president-elect also proposed a strategic national Bitcoin stockpile, akin to America's strategic petroleum reserve, directly purchasing and investing in cryptocurrencies as a national security measure.

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Bitcoin's $100K wall

Data: CoinGecko. Chart: Axios Visuals Bitcoin's dramatic post-election rally to $100,000 seems to have quit cold turkey in the days heading into Thanksgiving, Axios Crypto author Brady Dale writes. The world's biggest cryptocurrency came within a few hundred dollars of $100K on Monday. But since then it's lost momentum. Why it matters: $100,000 BTC might be one of the most psychologically important prices in the history of cryptocurrency. The suspense has kept some traders waiting for years. Keep reading.

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Crypto's new muscle

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

The cryptocurrency industry spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elect a pro-crypto Washington. Now it wants results, Axios' Brady Dale reports. Crypto interests want to see a much lighter touch from the Trump administration's regulators. Crypto leaders are planning to push Congress for a new framework that would help the industry become a bigger part of the financial system. 🏦 What we're watching: The most immediate shift in crypto's favor will likely come from the SEC, its main regulator. The Biden administration has been viewed as acutely hostile. A new SEC could quickly roll back some of its least popular rules and settle ongoing lawsuits. President-elect Trump has yet to name someone to lead the SEC. But he has already appointed two relevant Cabinet members known to be fans of digital assets: Howard Lutnick for Commerce and Scott Bessent for Treasury. 📈 Zoom out: There are now 276 pro-crypto House members, according to the advocacy group Stand With Crypto. The industry's biggest target during the election was Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chair of the Senate Banking Committee and a crypto foe. He lost to Trump-backed Republican Bernie Moreno. But industry spending was bipartisan. Stand With Crypto counts as allies the newly elected Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Andy Kim of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. Go deeper.

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🚀 Bitcoin breaks $100K

Data: CoinGecko. Chart: Axios Visuals Bitcoin's price broke $100,000 last night for the first time — capping a bull run that has seen the original cryptocurrency rise more than 30% since Election Day, Axios' Brady Dale writes. Why it matters: The Trump effect, and the promise of a friendlier Congress, accelerated bitcoin's climb. 🔭 Zoom in: The landscape for digital assets, and bitcoin in particular, has never looked brighter. Wall Street, at one time an enemy crypto dreamed of slaying, has become a crucial ally, adding exponentially to the asset's staying power. Keep reading.   Bitcoin record Bitcoin hit $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday, surging to a record high as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to usher in crypto-friendly policies when he takes office in January. Trump plans to nominate Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, a crypto advocate and former SEC commissioner, is expected to regulate cryptocurrencies with a lighter touch than Gary Gensler, who leads the commission under the Biden administration. Bitcoin is up 130% for the year so far, with a post-election rally accounting for a significant portion of its gains. Its performance far outpaces the S&P 500, which is up 28% over the same period.

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Regulators Warn Crypto Could Cause Another Financial Crisis

New government reports warn that the rise of crypto-related economic risks could trigger widespread financial disruption.

https://www.levernews.com/regulators-warn-crypto-could-cause-another-financial-crisis/?

 

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Regulators Warn Crypto Could Cause Another Financial Crisis

As the cryptocurrency industry scored massive electoral wins in November and skyrocketing crypto prices currently push the global valuation to more than $3 trillion, federal regulators have issued warnings about the nascent industry’s potential to cause widespread disruptions to traditional banking and financial markets. 

https://www.levernews.com/regulators-warn-crypto-could-cause-another-financial-crisis/