“On Tuesday a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., seemed to agree with Grayscale’s argument. The court is expected to issue its ruling in the next three to 12 months. Should the court rule in Grayscale’s favor there are several possible things that could happen next.
The commission could approve GBTC as a spot bitcoin ETF as well as approve those spot ETFs from other companies that have been similarly rejected by the SEC.”
“Coinbase is starting a “wallet as a service” business that will allow companies to customize blockchain wallets for their own customers.
The service could be used by gaming apps where tokens or non-fungible tokens (NFT) are part of the game, or by companies that might want to incorporate a wallet into an app and make that ‘almost invisible to the end user.’
Coinbase says its wallet-as-a-service could help companies ‘to bring the next hundred million customers into Web3 through a seamless wallet-onboarding experience.’
In a world where wallets are simple, companies can finally build Web3 experiences accessible to everyone regardless of technical knowledge.”
See Also: Alpha Sigma, Transform Ventures Partner on New $100M Crypto-Focused Funds
“The chairman of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has taken a firm stance against the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s subtle power creep over the digital asset market. Rostin Behnam told the Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday that Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency next to Bitcoin, is a commodity.
It’s been listed on CFTC exchanges for quite some time. We would not have allowed the Ether futures product to be listed on a CFTC exchange if we did not feel strongly that it was a commodity asset.
He elaborated, stating that his agency has “serious legal defences” to support their case.
The regulatory chiefs also disagree on stablecoins. While the SEC recently threatened to sue Paxos for issuing BUSD as an unregistered security, Behnam believes stablecoins should be considered commodities—absent any legislation to claim otherwise.”
See Also: Lido Finance Weighs Sunsetting Liquid Staking on Polkadot, Kusama
“According to United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a new draft of the bipartisan crypto bill pioneered by herself and Senator Cynthia Lummis will be released to the new Congress after being deferred in 2022.
If passed in both the Senate and House and signed into law, the legislation would likely provide needed regulatory clarity among many crypto projects, including which assets would fall under the purview of the SEC and CFTC.
Our ambition is to make sure that there is a place to start a national conversation about a holistic approach to digital assets.
To make sure that digital assets have the character of securities are regulated by the SEC, to have the assets that have the [unintelligible] of commodities are regulated by the CFTC, to make sure stablecoins can be overseen by the OCC, to make sure that there are tax provisions for the entire industry.
Behnam said that Gillibrand and Lummis had ‘carefully and thoughtfully considered all components of the market.'”
See Also: Crypto Sector’s Reserve Reports Can’t Be Trusted, Says U.S. Audit Watchdog
See Also: India’s Crypto Businesses Handed Anti-Money Laundering Obligations for First Time
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“Crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank will “voluntarily liquidate” its assets and wind down operations, its holding company, Silvergate Capital Corp. (SI), said Wednesday. Under the winding down all deposits will be repaid in full, the company said.
In light of recent industry and regulatory developments, Silvergate believes that an orderly wind down of Bank operations and a voluntary liquidation of the Bank is the best path forward. The Bank’s wind down and liquidation plan includes full repayment of all deposits.
Silvergate has provided banking services to crypto companies since 2013. The company revealed it had nearly 500 crypto clients when it filed to go public in November 2018. Its initial public offering (IPO) was completed in 2019, trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The bank boasted more than 750 crypto clients at the time.”
See Also: Crypto Lender Celsius Should Continue Exclusive Right to Pursue Novawulf Deal, Judge Says
See Also: Gemini’s banking relationship with JPMorgan ‘remains intact’
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“The exchange market share increased from 59.4% in January to 61.8% in February, according to a report from crypto market data provider CryptoCompare. Binance had a 13.7% increase in its spot volumes to $504 billion, an all-time high market share for the exchange.
This comes as regulators in the U.S. and beyond have ratcheted up their scrutiny of the exchange in recent months.
Despite the recent criticism the exchange has received, market participants continue to take shelter on Binance under the premise that the largest exchange is seen as one of the safer trading venues. It is one of the exchanges with the most trading pairs and services available.”
“Powell “stressed” that the central bank has yet to make a decision on the size of the rate hike when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets later in March.
I stress that no decision has been made on this.
Powell said there’s a number of important economic reports to be released between now and the FOMC’s March 21-22 meeting – this Friday’s February payrolls report and next week’s inflation figures among them – and the incoming data will play an important role in guiding the rate decision.”
The Disrupt 