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Gensler to Step Down Jan. 20 |
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler — a frequent foe of the cryptocurrency industry — said he will fully leave the agency the day Donald Trump becomes president in January. He's not just stepping down as head of the main U.S. securities regulator. He will also not stick around as a commissioner, meaning he won't be around to defend his regulatory policies, which have included an aggressive stance toward crypto. Gensler's resignation will be effective at noon on Jan. 20, the moment President-elect Trump is sworn in, the SEC said in a press release. In a statement, Gensler called the regulator "a remarkable agency." "The staff and the Commission are deeply mission-driven, focused on protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and ensuring that the markets work for investors and issuers alike. The staff comprises true public servants," he said. "It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve with them on behalf of everyday Americans and ensure that our capital markets remain the best in the world." The statement went on to thank President Joe Biden and Gensler's fellow commissioners. Gensler, who took office in April 2021, oversaw a number of enforcement actions and rulemakings directly affecting the crypto industry. Though industry participants hoped he would offer a light-touch approach to crypto, the regulator instead expanded its enforcement actions from targeting crypto issuers, as it did under former SEC Chair Jay Clayton — who served under Trump — to instead filing suit against crypto trading platforms. |
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MicroStrategy Falls Despite Bitcoin Jump |
One of the more impressive runs higher ever seen in stocks took at least a brief breather on Thursday, with Bitcoin Development Company MicroStrategy (MSTR) sporting a double-digit percentage loss even as the price of bitcoin (BTC) surged to a new record high just shy of $100,000. At one point lower by more than 20%, MicroStrategy closed the session down 16.2%. The move isn't much more than a large blip on the longer-term chart, with shares still higher by more than five-fold for 2024 and ahead nearly eight times from the level of one year ago. "MicroStrategy's [valuation] has completely detached from bitcoin fundamentals," wrote Citron Research's Andrew Left earlier in the day. A former bull on the stock who recommended four years ago that investors get long bitcoin by buying MicroStrategy, Left said he remains bullish on BTC but has hedged by shorting MSTR. |
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Chillguy Meme Creator Threatens Action |
Chillguy's 100,000 token holders aren’t feeling so chill anymore. Phillip Banks, the meme’s creator, is threatening to issue takedown notices for profit-related assets or applications using the character he created as a spoof meme token that went viral on Crypto Twitter. “Chill guy has been copyrighted. like, legally. I'll be issuing takedowns on for-profit related things over the next few days,” Banks said on X. “not like brand accounts using him as a trend, that's kinda something i dont really care about (i do just ask for credit. or xboxes.). mainly unauthorized merchandise and shitcoins.” Banks’ legal threats turned down the heat on the CHILLGUY token, whose creator is unkown. It is almost 50% below its Wednesday peak, with the decline strengthened by profit-taking. Notable Crypto Twitter traders, meanwhile, are asking Banks to post a Solana address for receiving money or tokens — in the hopes of keeping the fun going. It's not clear whom Banks plans to target. The meme took Crypto Twitter by storm this week as the parody Solana-based CHILLGUY token rocketed more than 1,000% in a single day, notching up a $500 million market capitalization at Wednesday's peak. Chillguy portrays a character unfazed by life's challenges. It has attracted interest from brands to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, boosting narratives around the token. |
Mastercard/JPMorgan Link Up |
Mastercard (MA) has connected its blockchain-based system for shifting tokenized assets, the Multi-Token Network (MTN), with JPMorgan’s (JPM) recently rebranded digital assets business Kinexys (formerly known as Onyx). The collaboration is to enhance B2B cross-border payments, the companies said in a press release on Thursday, “providing greater transparency and faster settlement as well as reducing time zone friction.” The payments giant said it has invited a number of banks onto its MTN when the platform emerged in mid-2023 with a view to testing out tokenized bank deposits, the use of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Mastercard’s token network is working specifically with the JPMorgan’s Kinexys Digital Payments, which was formerly known as JPM Coin. The firms said in a joint statement that by integrating Mastercard MTN's connectivity with Kinexys Digital Payments, mutual customers of MTN and Kinexys will be able to settle B2B transactions through a single API. “At Kinexys, we believe our solutions can play a transformative role in the ecosystem for digital global commerce and digital assets, where the value proposition of commercial transaction venues is enhanced by the availability of commercial bank payment rails that can natively integrate with any digital marketplace or platform,” said Naveen Mallela, co-head of Kinexys by J.P. Morgan in a statement. “By bringing together the power and connectivity of Mastercard’s MTN with Kinexys Digital Payments, we are unlocking greater speed and settlement capabilities for the entire value chain. We are excited about this integration and the new use cases it will bring to life, leveraging the strengths and innovations of both organizations,” said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard in a statement. |
The Takeaway: The Media Loves the Worst |
By Mahesh Ramakrishnan Is your social media feed once again full of crypto bros taking victory laps attesting to the inevitability of bitcoin? If you’re wondering, "How did we get back here?" or if TV news told you that Bitcoin died, you're not alone. Driven by viral social media campaigns like Elizabeth Warren’s “Anti-Crypto Army,” crypto has become as dirty a word as investment banking was in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. But, while the crypto-is-a-scam crowd may have sounded prescient as FTX blew up in 2022, the kindest thing you can call them today is lazy. Several areas within the crypto sector are solving tangible problems at scale, from facilitating digital transactions to supporting an internet-native financial system. For instance, stablecoins, which peg digital assets to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, are reaching new heights in adoption, particularly in emerging markets where people face unstable local currencies. Then there’s decentralized finance (DeFi), which enables users to lend, borrow, and trade assets directly, bypassing traditional financial intermediaries. Yes, in countries with limited access to banking, DeFi represents a significant opportunity for financial inclusion. But in a world radically rethinking trade and dollarization, these primitives also offer a neutral ground to transact, while furthering use and proliferation of the dollar. Not all crypto projects have clear value, however. Memecoins, digital tokens whose value is driven by internet attention rather than tangible use, are divisive — even within crypto circles. For example, dogecoin, a favorite of Elon Musk, has a market value exceeding 94% of companies in the S&P 500, despite lacking a product or business model. Recently, Chris Dixon, at Andreessen Horowitz, even criticized memecoins’ as undermining understanding of the sector’s utility. If one was looking for a reason to argue crypto is a scam, you could find it in pockets of the memecoin world. But since Sam Bankman Fried’s ignominious fall in 2022, another new primitive is using crypto rails to rebuild the tangible world: decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN). These networks let individuals contribute resources — such as data or connectivity — in exchange for rewards. By crowdsourcing infrastructure, DePIN projects can compete with large incumbents, offering cheaper and more accessible services. The Atlantic has already called the term DePIN (which was coined by an analyst at Messari) “boring.” But these networks are already changing the market structure of legacy industries. Today, there are over 1,400 DePIN projects building, having raised more than $1 billion in venture funding. But if you relied solely on the Atlantic and Warren’s Twitter feed, you’d still think the industry was fraudulent. One prominent example is Helium, a network that crowdsources mini-tower and hotspot deployment to create a decentralized mobile coverage network. With over 120,000 active mobile plans in service, Helium provides affordable connectivity by pushing operating costs to the edges of the network. But one could also find reporting calling Helium a scam and declaring it a failure after its token price fell 90% in 2022. All of which misses how Helium’s business has transformed into a cellular provider from an IoT network. This misunderstanding reflects how volatile token prices often overshadow real business developments. Crypto networks like Helium are often “antifragile,” adapting through volatility, even as extreme price swings fuel misleading narratives. Perhaps this explains Trump’s affinity for crypto: both he and the crypto industry are often misrepresented or taken out of context. Like with MAGA, certain crypto actors become conflated with the whole industry, and those looking for something to blame find an easy scapegoat. It also explains why crypto-natives feel so misunderstood. Yes, there is a cohort of crypto-owners that support anarchy, and others still that have abused this unregulated market for personal gain. As the failures of the end of last cycle pushed the mainstream media to pessimism, it makes sense that many believe that The Worst of Crypto is yet to come. But as real use-cases in stablecoins, DeFi and DePIN continue to abound, it’s clear that the best of crypto is yet to come, too. |
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