By James Davis
Crypto prices barely moved last week as United States regulators continued their battle with blockchain industry players. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler maintained that his agency is prepared to assist crypto firms to be compliant.
Gensler, together with the Commission’s lawyers, also insisted that the current securities rules are clear enough for the crypto players to follow. However, opponents like SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce continued to disagree, claiming that her boss only wants to discourage blockchain innovations in the United States.
On Tuesday, the SEC urged the court to dismiss Coinbase’s request to have the agency clarify crypto rules. The crypto exchange’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, took to Twitter to claim that the SEC told the court to block Coinbase’s request because the rulemaking process may take years. For this reason, Grewal said it is likely that the SEC will continue using enforcement actions as a substitute for rulemaking for the foreseeable future.
SEC Vs. LBRY
On Wednesday, the SEC dropped its request for $22.5 million in disgorgement penalties from file sharing protocol LBRY. The blockchain company welcomed the agency’s move but went ahead to claim that Gensler and his team had finally admitted they would lose the case, so they wanted to avoid the shame.
Later that day, Web3 developer @vydamo tweeted about the unprofessionalism of a meme coin creator with the username @Eth_Ben. The developer alleged that he helped Eth Ben develop a meme coin called PSYOP but was never paid. He cautioned investors about investing in his projects.
Crypto Influencer BitBoy Dumps Tokens
The following day, crypto influencer BitBoy was caught by blockchain observer Amir Ormu dumping the BEN tokens, which he vowed he wouldn’t sell for the next six months. BitBoy sold over 250 billion BEN for 11.7 ETH.
On Thursday, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT shared photos of cease and desist letters sent on-chain by Kia Kamran lawyers to scam projects GrumpCat Coin and NyanCoin. He praised the attorneys for the move.
Finally, crypto-friendly policymaker Tom Emmer shared insights about his latest crypto bill. He tweeted that tokens used to raise development funds will be treated as securities once the bill is approved.