Dear Bankless Nation,
Gary Gensler and his friends at the SEC can't catch a break. While they attempt to sue the crypto industry out of existence, the American judicial system keeps getting in their way...
For our weekly recap, we dig into:
- The SEC is losing
- Binance ditches BUSD, Russia market?
- Uniswap wins court battle
- DCG reaches Genesis deal
- BitBoy drops BitBoy
- Bankless team
📅 Weekly Recap
1. The SEC is Losing
An Appeals Court handed another major loss to the SEC this week, showcasing once again that Gary Gensler's war on crypto is a vendetta that's overstepping legal bounds.
This latest ruling sided with Grayscale who had argued that the dismissal of its application to convert its GBTC product into an ETF wasn't fair. The appeals court agreed, calling the SEC's denial "arbitrary" and "capricious." The ruling did not force the SEC to approve the application, but said that they have to review the application again and can't deny it for the same reason.
The announcement triggered plenty of price action, sending the market higher momentarily and pushing Coinbase stock up 14%.
Is the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF now just around the corner? The SEC punted its decision on approving a number of spot Bitcoin ETF applications from large entities like BlackRock and Fidelity, but analysts feel increasingly bullish that the SEC won't be able to fight this for long...
2. Binance ditches BUSD, Russia market?
Binance is public enemy number one for America's crypto-hostile regulators and the exchange giant is being forced to make major changes to its business to avoid potentially drastic action.
This week, Binance signaled that it was fully moving away from its Paxos-issued BUSD stablecoin, which had already halted minting new coins after catching the ire of regulators. Simultaneously, after a Wall Street Journal report signaled that the Binance product was helping Russia's wealthy move their money, Binance floated that it may abandon the Russia market altogether.
Things are looking increasingly grim for Binance which is dealing with multiple regulatory battles across geographies and is reportedly staring down action from the DOJ directly.
3. Uniswap wins court battle
While the big court news of the week was the Grayscale v. SEC win, Uniswap had its own victory after a New York judge tossed an investor suit against the company. The investors had claimed that Uniswap had caused them direct harm by allowing scam tokens to be listed and traded on the decentralized exchange.
The judge ruled that the exchange was not responsible for every asset listed on it and said that the true defendants in the case should be the parties that deployed the scam tokens. The judge's opinion read that the case was "like a suit attempting to hold an application like Venmo or Zelle liable for a drug deal that used the platform to facilitate a fund transfer."
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4. DCG reaches Genesis deal
Digital Currency Group said it had reached a deal with Genesis creditors to resolve the claims from its bankruptcy. The plan "could result in the recoveries of 70%-90% in USD equivalent for unsecured creditors and 65%-90% recovery on an in-kind basis depending on the denomination of the digital asset," according to CoinDesk.
It's been a brutal 2023 for DCG, but with a Genesis deal and CoinDesk sale wrapped and potentially greener pastures ahead for Grayscale – the company is making moves.
5. BitBoy drops BitBoy
Popular YouTuber BitBoy is out at his own company after BJ Investment Holdings, the parent company of BitBoy Crypto, announced this week that Ben Armstrong, BitBoy himself, was being removed from the company, alleging that his substance abuse issues had caused multiple problems for the company.
In a statement to Decrypt, Armstrong called the allegations "false" and "diabolical."
This difficult decision is a culmination of a prolonged effort to help Ben during his relapse into substance abuse as well as reconcile the emotional, physical and financial damage he has done to the employees of Hit network & the Bitboy Crypto community.
— Bitboy Crypto (@Bitboy_Crypto) August 28, 2023
📺 Bankless Weekly Roll-Up
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