New Regulators in Town: What’s Next for Crypto in DC

In this episode, Anna Baydakova, Tanzeel Akhtar and Nik De discuss what to expect from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration regarding crypto, how QuadrigaCX users are doing and trying to predict the future for Ripple.

President Joe Biden has named Gary Gensler as his pick for chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Janet Yellen as the future head of the U.S. Treasury. Gensler, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is known for his series of lectures at MIT about blockchain tech. Yellen said recently she believes crypto is funding illicit activities, sending the bitcoin price down. What’s next? Nik De provides a short guide to what to watch.

Ernst and Young (EY), the bankruptcy trustee for the defunct Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX, is still trying to figure out how to value the firm’s cryptocurrency assets before disbursement to creditors. Timing is crucial here: The amount of money creditors will get depends on the day of evaluation chosen because the price of bitcoin changed a lot between February and April 2019, when QuadrigaCX’s court story was developing.

Last but not least, Ripple has been grappling with a bunch of troubles since the SEC filed a lawsuit against the company in December. The commission believes Ripple has been selling unregistered securities, namely the XRP tokens. The court case is still in progress, but soon after the lawsuit was filed, a number of exchanges and brokers suspended XRP trading including Coinbase, Kraken, OKCoin, Bitstamp, eToro, Crypto.com, Genesis and others. Now, a new SEC head is expected. Good news for Ripple? Probably not too much.

Stories mentioned in this episode:

• Gary Gensler Named as Joe Biden’s SEC Chair Pick (TA) /markets/2021/01/18/gary-gensler-named-as-joe-bidens-sec-chair-pick/
• Janet Yellen Says Cryptocurrencies Are a ‘Concern’ in Terrorist Financing /policy/2021/01/19/janet-yellen-says-cryptocurrencies-are-a-concern-in-terrorist-financing/
• Criminal Activity in Crypto Transactions Fell Sharply in 2020, Says Chainalysis /markets/2021/01/19/criminal-activity-in-crypto-transactions-fell-sharply-in-2020-says-chainalysis/
• Trustee of Collapsed Exchange Moves to Resolve Crypto vs. Fiat Creditor Claims Tussle /markets/2021/01/20/trustee-of-collapsed-exchange-moves-to-resolve-crypto-vs-fiat-creditor-claims-tussle/
• Kraken to Halt XRP Trading for US Residents /markets/2021/01/15/kraken-to-halt-xrp-trading-for-us-residents/
• Japan’s FSA Says XRP Not a Security: Report /markets/2021/01/13/japans-fsa-says-xrp-not-a-security-report/
• Asia’s Retail FOMO Could Be Behind XRP’s Rally Despite SEC’s Lawsuit /markets/2021/01/08/asias-retail-fomo-could-be-behind-xrps-rally-despite-secs-lawsuit/
• Ripple CEO Walks Back Threat to Leave US /business/2020/12/03/ripple-ceo-walks-back-threat-to-leave-us/

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