Author: Coindesk

“The SEC was created by Congress to enforce the Securities Act and Exchange Act, including the requirement that securities intermediaries register with the SEC,” the filing from April said. “In applying the Howey test in its determination that Kraken must register, the SEC is simply following its Congressional mandate.” Read the full article here

The popular trading platform received the notice – a preliminary warning from the regulator about potential enforcement action – on May 4, the company said in a filing on Monday. The notice should be viewed as a “continued attempt by the SEC to reinforce its position that all crypto tokens outside bitcoin and ether should be classified as securities,” analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote. Read the full article here

In January, Grayscale converted GBTC, which had been in existence as a closed-end fund for over a decade, into a spot ETF, becoming one of ten issuers to bring such a fund to the market. While billions flowed into the new vehicles, GBTC, whose management fee of 1.50% was more than 100 basis points above its competitors, experienced billions in outflows. Read the full article here

FINTRAC also said that, between June 1, 2021 and July 19, 2023 Binance failed to report 5,902 crypto transactions bigger than $10,000 and their attached know-your-customer (KYC) information to the regulator. The agency discovered the violations using blockchain explorer tools. Read the full article here

The concept for the new protocol was created in conjunction with researchers from Berkeley and Columbia University, according to the team. It combines math, computer science and economics, deploying “advanced sampling methods and game theory to incentivize integrity and minimize computational demands across decentralized networks,” Hyperbolic shared in a press release with CoinDesk. Read the full article here

But when it comes to protecting investors and offering transparency, Robert Leshner, the founder of Compound and Robot Ventures, an investor in EigenLayer developer Eigen Labs, thinks points are the worst of all worlds. “The entire root of investor protection is making sure that there’s not an information asymmetry between the investors and the sponsors. And points create the largest information asymmetry that exists in crypto,” he said. “Everything is at the team’s discretion, and users and investors are just praying that they get treated right by the team.” Read the full article here

For many young women of this generation, the digital realm serves as both a canvas and a stage. Social media platforms offer a medium through which they can curate their image, projecting an idealized version of themselves to the world without the need for physical alteration. With the rise of influencer culture, these individuals find themselves thrust into the spotlight, their online personas meticulously crafted to garner attention, recognition and status. Read the full article here

Crypto advocates see the rule as onerous and capital intensive, and, interestingly, so do banks and other financial incumbents. In February, major banking and securities industry bodies including the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), American Bankers Association (ABA), Financial Services Forum (FSF) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) wrote a letter to the SEC asking for amendments to the bulletin’s requirements. Read the full article here

That’s why stablecoin issuers should be granted a specific non-bank license, as happens for e-money issuers in the E.U., U.K., and Brazil: a simpler license with requirements, including capital requirements, that are proportionate to their limited activity and lower risk profile. They don’t need a banking license, nor should they be required to get one. Read the full article here

May 9: API3, a first-party blockchain oracle, has introduced the OEV Watchtower, “enabling protocol developers for the first time to measure annual liquidity losses to Oracle services, potentially amounting to millions,” according to the team: “This tool allows dApps to benchmark their OEV retention against major protocols like Iron Bank, Morpho Aave, and MakerDAO. It also enhances transparency by letting users input their liquidation incentive rate and TVL to track money liquidated, incentives paid, amounts sent to builders, and losses to searchers.” Read the full article here