The United States’ legal system is set to bring the crypto industry “back in the game” after the Biden administration “screwed up” its crypto policy, says Ripple Labs chair and co-founder Chris Larsen.
Speaking to Bloomberg on Sep. 7 about his firm’s July partial win against the Securities and Exchange Commission, Larsen argued the regulator lost on “everything that was important to [it] and important in the regulation of the industry.”
“The U.S. screwed up here on crypto and blockchain policy. This is the beginning now through the courts, unfortunately instead of through regulators, to get that clarity and get us back in the game.”
Larsen also commented on the latest court judgment in favor of Grayscale over its application to convert its Bitcoin (BTC) trust into a spot Bitcoin ETF, noting it “really admonished the SEC […] in a way that you don’t really see very often.”
I sincerely hope we’re seeing the beginning of the end of the SEC’s policy of regulation by enforcement. The Courts are rejecting it, and now it’s time for Congress to take the lead on crypto policy.
Larsen argued the ruling was proof that SEC chair Gary Gensler knows crypto laws aren’t clear and simply likes the lack of clarity so “he can go after anybody and make up the rules as he goes along through bullying.”
“That’s not the American way. We should have clear rules from the legislatures, not through these unelected, power-hungry and really misplaced decision-makers that you see in Gary Gensler.”
Gensler has however previously claimed that the crypto market is full of “fraudsters” and “Ponzi schemes” and that the SEC’s securities laws would help to clean it up.
Biden ‘killed’ San Fran blockchain hub
In another part of the interview, Larsen claimed Biden’s crypto policies “pretty much killed” San Francisco from being the “blockchain capital of the world” despite Silicon Valley’s tech hub reputation.
“We owned it and we don’t anymore because the Biden administration, for whatever reason, decided they wanted to push this industry offshore,” Larsen added.
“That was a missed opportunity. It’s really unfortunate. Hurt the city.”
He pointed to London, Singapore and Dubai as global blockchain capitals for their “clear rules that protect consumers and also celebrate innovation.”
“Why isn’t America leading that call?” Larsen asked. “That’s what we’ve always been, and we’ve got to get back to it.”
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.