Regulation
What the SEC shakeup means for crypto investors
With the SEC in the background, what’s next for crypto regulation?
© 2024 Bloomberg Finance LP
The SEC has waged an aggressive legal and regulatory campaign against cryptoasset industry players for years, which has earned it few friends and led to several recent setbacks from a legalistic perspective. After the collapse of FTX, including the crimes for which Bankman-Fried was convicted, general sentiment turned against the crypto-asset sector in US political circles, seemingly justifying the efforts made by Chairman Gensler to regulate the sector through executive orders and lawsuits. More recently, however, the legal tide has seemed to be turning Ripple achieved a partial victory against the Commission in July 2023, coercive efforts against Coinbase continue to advance without clear victories, and congressional hearings have targeted the SEC for exceeding.
Drop the trial to prove Ethereum
Ethereum
This security is just the latest in a series of blows that have stalled the steamroller that Chairman Gensler has deployed to regulate crypto.
However, in addition to conversation, this reversal of sentiment also has bite. April 2024 saw the resignation of two (2) lawyers for the SEC after a federal judge sanctioned the Commission for flagrant abuse of power. Directly related to efforts to regulate the cryptoasset space, these abuses were linked to enforcement efforts to obtain a temporary restraining order against Debt Box, a Utah-based crypto organization. June 2024 saw further staff reductions in the SEC’s cryptoasset enforcement division, with David Hirsch – the head of the SEC’s enforcement division’s cryptoassets unit – resigns. During this tenure, the SEC has been particularly focused on cracking down on bad actors in the DeFi space, with the former division chief adding no comments on potential future roles.
Let’s take a look at a few things investors should keep in mind as the regulatory landscape continues to evolve.
The SEC is losing its importance
After years of criticism and pushback from cryptocurrency organizations and advocates, it finally appears that the SEC has lost some momentum in its efforts to establish itself as the default regulator of cryptoassets. Aside from the fact that tokenized instruments and blockchain technology operate on a fundamentally different level than many fiat and TradFi instruments, many in the industry found the approach taken by the Commission to be inappropriate for the dynamic blockchain industry. cryptography. After multiple legal setbacks, punctuated by the resignation of the chief crypto enforcer, it appears this message is finally making headway.
While some might welcome these developments, and these celebrations are not without merit, these same investors should be aware of which regulators are seeking to assume leadership from a regulatory perspective. For example, the IRS has dominated tax and compliance discussions for investors because of its unwavering and unchanged stance on how cryptoassets should be taxed. The CFTC, proposed via several bills, is also not without funding and personnel issues.
Regardless of the future direction of regulation, investors will need to revise their expectations and prepare for more debate.
Cryptographic classification is coming
As the SEC loses prominence in the cryptocurrency regulation debate, the reality is that cryptocurrencies will soon be classified and regulated by a supervisory agency. In reality, this won’t happen until after the November 2024 presidential election, but the wheels for greater control are already in motion. Both major political parties have moved significantly toward — if not positive positions on crypto — positions and positions that appear open to discussion on substantive issues.
Accounting standard setters have an important role to play in these future conversations, as a critical aspect of crypto ambiguity concerns the difficulty with which companies can report and disclose crypto transactions of crypto holdings in financial statements. Although the FASB took a first step in December 2023 by allowing companies to report their crypto-asset holdings on a mark-to-market basis, this is only the first step toward more flexible reporting policies. complete.
Volatility will return
For all the certainty that improved regulation and reporting rules will bring, it is also worth emphasizing that the decision-making process – including the uncertainty it will engender – can reintroduce volatility into the market at wider. For example, with the recent abandonment of the Ether case, some market analysts might have expected a dramatic price increase, but instead the price reaction has been muted. Instead, investors seem to be waiting for further decisions and clarification on the ETF’s decision; cryptoassets are maturing and are therefore influenced by many of the same nuances as TradFi assets.
An important consideration that should be on the minds of investors and advocates is that as the current – albeit unsatisfactory – environment created by the SEC’s actions changes, uncertainty could generate discomfort and volatility to short term for investors. These advocates and investors must recognize that as the regulatory outlook evolves, short-term volatility may be the price they pay for long-term clarity.