SEC reviews Ripple ruling, US bill seeks control over DeFi, and more: Hodler’s Digest, July 16-22
Top Stories This Week
Chair Gensler says SEC reaction to Ripple decision is mixed, still under consideration
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has commented publicly about the recent ruling on the agency’s suit against Ripple, saying the SEC is “still looking at it and assessing that opinion.” Gensler declined to comment further on the case, but said the commission is pleased with the court’s decision stating that XRP was a security when sold to institutional investors, but disappointed with the non-security ruling for retail investors and other XRP distributions. Comments made by the regulator on July 21 in a lawsuit hinted that it might appeal the decision. In the crypto community, however, some believe it is unlikely to happen as the SEC benefits from the “current confusion.”
Bipartisan bill to regulate DeFi, crypto security risks introduced into US Senate
A bipartisan bill was introduced into the U.S. Senate, tightening regulations and sanctions requirements for decentralized finance (DeFi). The bill would subject DeFi operations to the same requirements as “other financial companies, including centralized crypto trading platforms, casinos, and even pawn shops.” The proposal also makes “anyone who controls that project” liable for the use of the DeFi service by sanctioned persons. The bill also set new requirements for operators of crypto kiosks (or ATMs) to prevent their use in money laundering. Kiosk operators would be required to verify the identities of both counterparties in a transaction.
Altcoins ‘bled’ as Bitcoin gained dominance in Q2: CoinGecko
The second quarter of the year has been a solid one for Bitcoin’s performance as its market dominance gained against altcoins, which “bled” throughout the period, according to CoinGecko’s industry report. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) continued to build their market share over the past months, while Binance Coin (BNB), XRP (XRP), and Cardano (ADA) suffered double-digit losses over the quarter. DeFi tokens were hit particularly hard during the quarter, with Uniswap (UNI), Chainlink (LINK) and Lido (LDO) taking double-digit losses as well. The top five metaverse and play-to-earn tokens by market cap also marked losses up to 40%.
Multiple spot crypto ETF applications go to Federal Register in step toward SEC approval
Applications from several firms for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) have been published in the Federal Register, moving them one step along in the U.S. SEC process. According to the records, applications from BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck and WisdomTree were officially registered. Publishing the applications gives the SEC a window of opportunity to accept or reject the request, extend the time allowed or open the application for public comment. The SEC has an initial window of 45 days to reach a decision, but the commission has the option of extending the process for up to 240 days — until March 2024 — for final approval or denial.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vows to back US dollar with Bitcoin if elected president
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised to progressively back the United States dollar with Bitcoin if he is elected president. Kennedy said during an event that backing the U.S. dollar with what he called “hard currency,” including gold, silver, platinum or Bitcoin, could help to re-stabilize the American economy. Kennedy explained the process would be gradual and that, depending on the plan’s success, he’d adjust the amount of backing for the dollar. Additionally, Kennedy declared he would make Bitcoin-to-U.S. dollar conversions exempt from capital gains taxes in an attempt to spur investments in the country.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $29,883, Ether (ETH) at $1,894 and XRP at $0.78. The total market cap is at $1.2 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Maker (MKR) at 32.18%, XDC Network (XDC) at 24.19% and Stellar (XLM) at 20.88%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Rocket Pool (RPL) at -14.95%, GMX (GMX) at -10.93% and Lido DAO (LDO) at -7.90%.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Read also
Most Memorable Quotations
“For me, the lack of protection for retail investors underscores the fierce urgency around passing a market structure bill to protect the average American consumer.”
Ritchie Torres, New York Representative
“Japan, Korea, China, all these places are pushing Web3 in a really big way because they see that as an opportunity to break away from basically U.S.-dominant technologies.”
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
“Backing dollars and U.S. debt obligations with hard assets [gold, silver, platinum or Bitcoin] could help restore strength back to the dollar.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Democratic presidential candidate
“Based on Metcalfe’s law model, fair value for Bitcoin is around $55K. So I think we drift upwards toward that level.”
Mark Yusko, chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Capital
“[The Ripple ruling] has made our argument more compelling and more urgent, meaning that we can’t just rely on enforcement to get the kind of investor protection standards we need.”
Timothy Massad, former chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
“The Commission benefits from the current confusion and losing these issues on appeal would jeopardize its entire enforcement agenda. So I’d be surprised if the SEC tried to appeal now.”
Kathryn Haun, CEO of Haun Ventures
Prediction of the Week
Bitcoin Bollinger Bands echo move that ended in 40% January gains
Bitcoin is lining up a burst of volatility that could rival its 40% January gains, on-chain data suggests.
BTC price has acted in a tight range for an entire month, using $30,000 as a focal point for sideways behavior, putting both bulls and bears to the test. According to popular analyst Aksel Kibar:
“Seems like $BTCUSD is exhausting many trader’s patience,” he wrote on July 21, before adding that this “is usually the condition you see before strong moves. Not sure about the direction though. I will stick with my well-defined boundaries. I know that increased volatility is around the corner. Capture the directional move.”
According to Bollinger Bands behavior, a classic volatility indicator, this move should come sooner rather than later as it’s printing a telltale sign that the days of rangebound BTC price action are at an end.
FUD of the Week
Crypto firms and influencers may need to start including disclaimers on crypto memes to stay compliant with advertising laws in the United Kingdom. The country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released, on July 17, a proposed guidance on social media financial promotions that targets promotional memes and financial influencers — or “finfluencers.” The FCA considers crypto a high-risk investment. Per the FCA’s proposal, crypto can be advertised to retail investors at large, but there are requirements such as including risk warnings and a ban on investment incentives.
Uniswap founder Hayden Adams’ Twitter account was compromised on July 20. His account released a tweet to its more than 254,000 followers falsely claiming that the platform’s Permit2 contract had been “affected by an unknown exploit” and users’ tokens were at risk, encouraging them to click on a malicious link. The “Web3 Security Alerts” channel on Telegram detected the scam attempt and reported that Adams had also been blocked from his accounts with MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet.
Couple behind Bitfinex money laundering scheme reach plea deal with US prosecutors
Two people accused of having laundered billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin connected to the 2016 Bitfinex hack have reached a plea agreement with authorities in the United States. The pair had been charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and they are expected to forfeit digital assets connected to the case. Crypto exchange Bitfinex was hacked in August 2016, with roughly 119,754 Bitcoin stolen.
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Politics
‘More people should be given this chance’: The probation centres transforming offenders’ lives
The combination of full prisons and tight public finances has forced the government to urgently rethink its approach.
Top of the agenda for an overhaul are short sentences, which look set to give way to more community rehabilitation.
The cost argument is clear – prison is expensive. It’s around £60,000 per person per year compared to community sentences at roughly £4,500 a year.
But it’s not just saving money that is driving the change.
Research shows short custodial terms, especially for first-time offenders, can do more harm than good, compounding criminal behaviour rather than acting as a deterrent.
Charlie describes herself as a former ‘junkie shoplifter’
This is certainly the case for Charlie, who describes herself as a former “junkie, shoplifter from Leeds” and spoke to Sky News at Preston probation centre.
She was first sent down as a teenager and has been in and out of prison ever since. She says her experience behind bars exacerbated her drug use.
Charlie in February 2023
“In prison, I would never get clean. It’s easy, to be honest, I used to take them in myself,” she says. “I was just in a cycle of getting released, homeless, and going straight back into trap houses, drug houses, and that cycle needs to be broken.”
Eventually, she turned her life around after a court offered her drug treatment at a rehab facility.
She says that after decades of addiction and criminality, one judge’s decision was the turning point.
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“That was the moment that changed my life and I just want more judges to give more people that chance.”
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How to watch Sophy Ridge’s special programme live from Preston Prison
Also at Preston probation centre, but on the other side of the process, is probation officer Bex, who is also sceptical about short sentences.
“They disrupt people’s lives,” she says. “So, people might lose housing because they’ve gone to prison… they come out homeless and may return to drug use and reoffending.”
Read more from Sky News:
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Bex works with offenders to turn their lives around
Bex has seen first-hand the value of alternative routes out of crime.
“A lot of the people we work with have had really disjointed lives. It takes a long time for them to trust someone, and there’s some really brilliant work that goes on every single day here that changes lives.”
It’s people like Bex and Charlie, and places like Preston probation centre, that are at the heart of the government’s change in direction.
:: Watch special programme on prisons on Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge at 7pm
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s only three ways to spend the taxpayers’ hard-earned when it comes to prisons. More walls, more bars and more guards.”
Prison reform is one of the hardest sells in government.
Hospitals, schools, defence – these are all things you would put on an election leaflet.
Even the less glamorous end of the spectrum – potholes and bin collections – are vote winners.
But prisons? Let’s face it, the governor’s quote from the Shawshank Redemption reflects public polling pretty accurately.
Right now, however, reform is unavoidable because the system is at breaking point.
It’s a phrase that is frequently used so carelessly that it’s been diluted into cliche. But in this instance, it is absolutely correct.
Without some kind of intervention, the prison system is at breaking point.
It will break.
Inside Preston Prison
Ahead of the government’s Sentencing Review, expected to recommend more non-custodial sentences, I’ve been talking to staff and inmates at Preston Prison, a Category B men’s prison originally built in 1790.
Overcrowding is at 156% here, according to the Howard League.
Sophy Ridge talking outside Preston Prison
One prisoner I interviewed, in for burglary, was, until a few hours before, sharing his cell with his son.
It was his son’s first time in jail – but not his. He had been out of prison since he was a teenager. More than 30 years – in and out of prison.
His family didn’t like it, he said, and now he has, in his own words, dragged his son into it.
Sophie is a prison officer and one of those people who would be utterly brilliant doing absolutely anything, and is exactly the kind of person we should all want working in prisons.
She said the worst thing about the job is seeing young men, at 18, 19, in jail for the first time. Shellshocked. Mental health all over the place. Scared.
And then seeing them again a couple of years later.
And then again.
The same faces. The officers get to know them after a while, which in a way is nice but also terrible.
Sophy Ridge talking to one of the officers who works within Preston Prison
The £18bn spectre of reoffending
We know the stats about reoffending, but it floored me how the system is failing. It’s the same people. Again and again.
The Sentencing Review, which we’re just days away from, will almost certainly recommend fewer people go to prison, introducing more non-custodial or community sentencing and scrapping short sentences that don’t rehabilitate but instead just start people off on the reoffending merry-go-round, like some kind of sick ride.
But they’ll do it on the grounds of cost (reoffending costs £18bn a year, a prison place costs £60,000 a year, community sentences around £4,500 per person).
They’ll do it because prisons are full (one of Keir Starmer’s first acts was being forced to let prisoners out early because there was no space).
If the government wants to be brave, however, it should do it on the grounds of reform, because prison is not working and because there must be a better way.
Inside Preston Prison, Sky News saw first-hand a system truly at breaking point
A cold, hard look
I’ve visited prisons before, as part of my job, but this was different.
Before it felt like a PR exercise, I was taken to one room in a pristine modern prison where prisoners were learning rehabilitation skills.
This time, I felt like I really got under the skin of Preston Prison.
It’s important to say that this is a good prison, run by a thoughtful governor with staff that truly care.
But it’s still bloody hard.
“You have to be able to switch off,” one officer told me, “Because the things you see….”
Staff are stretched and many are inexperienced because of high turnover.
After a while, I understood something that had been nagging me. Why have I been given this access? Why are people being so open with me? This isn’t what usually happens with prisons and journalists.
Read more from Sky News:
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Probation centres answer to UK crime?
That’s when I understood.
They want people to know. They want people to know that yes, they do an incredible job and prisons aren’t perfect, but they’re not as bad as you think.
But that’s despite the government, not because of it.
Sometimes the worst thing you can do on limited resources is to work so hard you push yourself to the brink, so the system itself doesn’t break, because then people think ‘well maybe we can continue like this after all… maybe it’s okay’.
But things aren’t okay. When people say the system is at breaking point – this time it isn’t a cliche.
They really mean it.
:: Watch special programme on prisons on Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge at 7pm
Goldman Sachs-backed cryptocurrency custody firm BitGo is the latest cryptocurrency company to secure regulatory approval to operate across the European Union.
Germany’s financial regulator, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), granted BitGo Europe a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) license to provide digital asset services in the EU, the firm announced on May 12.
The license allows BitGo to offer services to crypto-native firms and traditional finance institutions, including banks and asset managers within the EU.
“This license underscores our commitment to the highest standards of security, transparency, and trust,” BitGo Europe managing director Harald Patt said.
BitGo set up the EU headquarters in 2023
Founded in 2013 in Palo Alto, California, BitGo is a major platform in the cryptocurrency industry specializing in crypto custodial services, holding cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) on behalf of its clients.
BitGo’s latest regulatory milestone in Europe follows efforts to increase its presence in the EU, including establishing local headquarters in Frankfurt in 2023.
Since setting up BitGo Europe in Germany, BitGo has received multiple registrations in EU states, including Italy, Spain, Poland and Greece.
“With the MiCA license now secured, BitGo can operate across the entire EU under a unified, forward-looking regulatory framework,” the firm said in the announcement.
“Broad range of institutional-grade solutions”
BitGo did not specify the services it intends to roll out immediately under the new MiCA license.
“BitGo’s MiCA licence comes at a pivotal moment as BitGo expands its product suite to offer a broad range of institutional-grade digital asset solutions,” the announcement added.
Related: Tether CEO defends decision to skip MiCA registration for USDT
As of May 12, BaFin’s official records did not yet reflect BitGo’s MiCA license, showing only earlier registrations.
Cointelegraph approached BitGo for additional details on its MiCA license but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
As previously mentioned, Germany has emerged as a major jurisdiction for European businesses seeking MiCA registration, with BaFin issuing licenses to several companies, including Bitpanda and Boerse Stuttgart Digital Custody, in 2025.
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