Unchained - The SEC Thinks Crypto Airdrops Are Securities. Here's Why This Lawyer Thinks It's Wrong - Ep. 707
Episode Date: September 20, 2024This week, Republican Representatives Tom Emmer and Patrick McHenry sent a letter pressing SEC Chair Gary Gensler for clarity on how securities laws apply to airdrops. With billions of dollars worth o...f tokens airdropped this year alone, projects need clarity more than ever. In this episode, Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer of the DeFi Education Fund, dissects the SEC’s stance on airdrops, why her organization believes the SEC has stretched the legal definition of “compensation” too far, and what Congress might ask Gensler in his upcoming hearing. Plus, she talks about how the SEC “regrets” any confusion it caused for using the term “crypto assets securities,” since the agency now admits that tokens themselves are not securities. Show highlights: Why Amanda believes the SEC’s position on airdrops doesn’t make sense Why the DeFi Education Fund sued the SEC over the BEBA airdrop How the SEC’s position on airdrops has been clear for a while, but is “wrong” according to Amanda Her take on users bypassing the geographic restrictions to claim airdrops in the U.S. How and why the SEC has changed its language around “crypto assets securities” How the SEC’s new position on crypto assets implicating securities laws seems to rest on the “embodiment” theory Why Amanda believes the Supreme Court or Congress may be needed to step in What Amanda expects Congress to question Gary Gensler about in the hearing next week Amanda’s takeaways from the first Congressional DeFi hearing last week How she expects the presidential election will impact the regulatory landscape in the U.S. Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Coinbase iTrustCapital Polkadot Mantle Stellar Guest Amanda Tuminelli, Chief legal officer of the DeFi Education Fund Previous appearances on Unchained: Gary Gensler’s Case Against Uniswap: Does the SEC Even Stand a Chance? Is This the End of DeFi? Why the US Government Is Going After Tornado Cash Links Airdrops: Blockworks: Republican Reps. ask Gensler for clarity on how securities laws apply to airdrops - Gabriel Shapiro’s tweet: “We may *disagree* that the position is correct but it's not unclear.” CoinDesk: Crypto Airdrops Ban U.S. Users, but Americans Are Claiming Tokens Anyway SEC’s amended complaint in the Binance case BEBA case DeFi Education Fund suing the SEC First Congressional Hearing on DeFi Unchained: First Congressional Hearing on DeFi Highlights Divide Between Republicans and Democrats Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:42 SEC’s stance on airdrops 04:25 DeFi Education Fund’s lawsuit over BEBA 06:47 Amanda: SEC’s position on airdrops is “wrong” 08:27 Users bypassing geographic restrictions for airdrops 12:47 Why the SEC suddenly apologized for using the term “crypto asset securities” for years 16:47 Amanda’s take on what the SEC’s new theory is for why tokens fall under securities laws 17:43 Why Supreme Court or Congressional involvement is likely needed 19:01 What Congress might ask Gensler in a hearing next week 19:59 Key takeaways from the first Congressional DeFi hearing 20:43 Amanda’s take on how the presidential election might impact crypto 23:45 News Recap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I just think that they're wrong on the law, and I think that the investment of money prong means money, investment of actual money.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained. You're a no-a-priceource for all things, crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians.
I started covering crypto nine years ago, and as a senior editor, Forbes, was the first nature reader reporter, take up a cryptocurrency full-time.
This is the September 20th, 2024 episode of Unchained.
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Today's guest is Amanda Tuminelli, chief legal officer at the Defy Education Fund. Welcome, Amanda.
Thanks for having me. This week, Republican representatives Tom Emmer and Patrick McHenry sent a letter
pressing SEC Chair Gary Gensler for clarity on how securities laws apply to airdrops.
Give us the backstory here. How was it that air drops came to be viewed?
as potential securities offerings?
Sure.
So I was actually really pleased to see this letter come out
because the SEC has taken this position
over a number of years that even a free air drop,
even to unsuspecting users,
the SEC says that can still constitute
a securities offering when digital assets are given
for free to people.
And as representatives Emmer and McHenry point out,
that really doesn't make sense under the Howey test, right?
Howie requires their job.
to be an investment of money.
And there is no investment of money when there is a free air drop.
But the SEC's taken this position in a number of cases, which are cited in the letter.
There's the Tomahawk case, the hydrogen case, the Justin Sun case.
And they even cite the Unoswap Wells notice response because there was anirdrop issue with Unoswap.
And so what is the SEC's theory and why are representatives Emmer and McHenry questioning whether it's been misapplied?
So it seems like from their letter they understand the concept that the Howie test requires an investment of money.
The SEC takes the position that even when there is a free air drop of tokens, if the token creator asks people to do something in response or do something in order to receive the free air drop like promote on social media or in the Justin Sun case, there was like an emoji contest, like asking people to participate in an emoji contest.
according to the SEC counts as compensation that they're saying counts as an investment of money under Howie.
And of course, they've not really articulated it as specifically as that, but that's what you can glean from the various complaints that they have filed against people in the space.
Oh, so it's more like it's an investment of time or effort.
Is that kind of the thinking?
They're saying that even just liking something on social or promoting something on social,
counts as compensation, so something like money back to the token creator. So they're saying there
really is an exchange of tokens for compensation. It's not a free air drop. It's an air drop in
exchange for marketing and promotional value. Now, I don't think that's what the Howie court would
agree with that. I think money means money. But I think that's the SEC's theory is like even a,
any kind of services in response for the token could count as compensation. Okay.
And so this also relates to a lawsuit that your organization, the Defi Education Fund, has brought against the SEC, asking it to clarify for a company called Beba's AirDrop that, you know, they'd like to air drop these free tokens for marketing purposes.
And you're asking the court to clarify that this is not a securities transaction. So what's your argument in that case?
Sure, yeah. So it's exactly getting at the same issue we're talking about. So Beba has.
asked the court to declare that its freeirdrop of Beba tokens was not a securities offering
and that the tokens themselves are not securities. But in that case, Beba did a free air drop of tokens
to unsuspecting users and that token entitles the token holder to have a discount and access to
an exclusive duffel bag. Without the token, you can't access that sale for the duffel bat. But the
token itself is just entitles the bearer to that discount and access. So after doing that,
first airdrop, Beba plans a second air drop. And in the interim, we filed our complaint asking the
court to declare that the firstirdrop and any future airdrops would not be securities offerings.
And what is the current status of the lawsuit? So the SEC moved to dismiss the amended complaint last
week and our opposition to the motion to dismiss is due next month. So we're really at the early stages
here. You know, the motion to dismiss is just based on the allegations and the complaint. And, you know,
hopefully we'll get past the motion to dismiss and get to discovery and, you know, take this all
the way and get the declaration we're asking for. What would be the timeline you'd expect for that?
So unfortunately, litigation can take a really long time. In addition to that declaratory judgment
claim, we have a claim under the Administrative Procedures Act saying that the SEC's regulation by
enforcement campaign is against the APA, that it violates the APA, and we want discovery on that claim.
So discovery could end up taking a long time.
But if we get discovery, it could show that the SEC does have an internal policy on how it views digital assets and how it is applying the law to digital assets according to the SEC.
So that could take months, if not years, but hopefully not.
Hopefully it will be, hopefully we'll get to the merits in at least, you know, in a year, maybe.
So it seems that some crypto lawyers think that the clarity around air jobs being securities is,
actually pretty strong. They say that this is part of a consistent policy by the SEC over decades.
For example, Gabriel Shapiro, who most people on Crypto Twitter would know he's definitely
a very pro-crypto tends to be very anti-SCC type person. But he tweeted, quote, I love a good
Gensler ripping as much as the next guy, but the SEC did basically clarify its ultra-agro position
on token airdrops in the Tomahawk exploration case, and the position is consistent with the free
stock cases of the 90s. We may disagree that the position is correct, but it's not unclear.
What do you have to say to his tweet? So I actually think he's right that the SEC's position is
clear. I just think it is also wrong. So I think that as he said, the Tomahawk case, the Justin
case, the hydro case, the SEC has told us that they think this. They think free air drops of tokens can
securities offering. So I don't disagree with him there. And I understand the allusion to the free stock
cases because in those cases, the SEC took the position that if you, I think in those cases, the fact was
that if you put in your email address and in response to your email address, you get free stock,
that counts as compensation to satisfy the how we test investment of money prong. So I agree with him
that that would be the precedent the SEC would cite to support their position. But I just think that
they were wrong on the law. And I think that the investment of money prong means money, investment of
actual money. Okay. So many projects, crypto projects, have restricted U.S. users from claiming
airdrops, but these have easily been bypass these restrictions. And you might have seen CoinDesk recently
reported that eigenlayer employees were claiming tokens from airdrops in the eigenlayer ecosystem that
were technically blocked to U.S. users. And I wondered if you thought projects should implement
stricter measures to ensure users don't claim these airdrops or generally what you think of,
you know, how a lot of users apparently are trying to bypass them. I mean, I think that I can
understand why people want to claim free or drops of tokens, of course. And I think that going back
to first principles, crypto is about creating community and giving people tokens to participate in a
community is exactly, you know, why crypto was created in the first place. I think that projects are
I think this reflects that projects are struggling to figure out what the actual law is and what the regulation is that they need to comply with.
So if it were clearer, what geo-fencing would actually satisfy regulators, I think we would see more compliance with that.
It's just that right now it's really not very clear what is sufficient to a regulator.
And the airdrobs also basically became a trend because initial coin offerings became a target by the SEC.
see. So if we eventually come to a position in the U.S. where air jobs are not an acceptable way to
distribute tokens. Initial coin offerings are not, then what does that future look like? Will crypto
projects mainly just start outside the U.S.? And Americans will have to buy in if they want
to participate? Or what do you think would be the best solution? So that's really uncertain. I think, as you
said, you know, it could be that projects will move overseas, which is something that the industry
has been warning Congress about here, is like you're going to lose your ability to interact directly
with token creators and projects. We're going to lose innovation to other countries. I think, or, you know,
or people are going to have to pick an exemption and try to do an offering. This all is, of course,
presuming that tokens themselves are securities and that we have reached a place where that is clear.
So if we're talking about a world in which the SEC is regulating token offerings, then I think people will have to find an SEC exemption to offer tokens pursuant to.
But, you know, I think there are some precursor questions we need to answer like are tokens securities and is the SEC the regulator that we need to be complying with?
And I think those questions are for Congress.
All right.
So in a moment, we're going to talk about other issues related to the SEC and regulations around crypto.
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Back to my conversation with Amanda.
So while all this is happening, meanwhile, the SEC has shifted how it talks about crypto.
They put a footnote in their amended finance complaint that said, quote,
as this court noted and as the SEC reiterates, with its use of the term crypto asset securities,
the SEC is not referring to the crypto asset itself as the security.
Rather, as the SEC is consistently maintained since the very first crypto-assin-howey case the SEC litigated, the term is a shorthand.
Nevertheless, to avoid any confusion, the, I don't know what this PAC is. What's PAC?
I think they're talking about the amended complaint there. They're like referring to their own document.
Okay, the PAC no longer uses the shorthand term, and the SEC regrets any confusion it may have invited in this regard.
So crypto lawyer Twitter was both outraged and a bit mocking about this footnote.
So I wondered if you could talk a bit about the evolution of this language.
How has the SEC used it in the past?
What are they changing it to?
And why are they changing it?
Yes, I think we all had a visceral reaction to this footnote, especially the fake apology for any confusion it may have caused.
I mean, talk about like the understatement of the year.
So what they're referring to in their own footnote as dating back to the telegram case, I think is such a disingenuous site.
Just to like nerd out for a second, what they are citing there is you would think they're citing themselves, right?
Because the sentence before the site is, as we have maintained since the very first case.
So you'd think they'd be citing something they wrote.
They're not.
They're citing the telegram court opinion.
So it's almost like saying, well, the court has been clear maybe on whether the assets themselves or securities.
but the SEC has not. And I think that's the point. If you look at, I think almost every complaint
they have filed in this space, they repeatedly say the tokens are investment contracts or,
you know, whatever it is, token X was offered as an investment contract. And in many cases,
like in the Ripple case, for example, they take pains to say XRP is not a currency. It's an investment
contract. So clearly, they did think the tokens themselves were securities, but because that has not been
a winning litigation position for them, they are now taking the litigation position that they've
never thought that the tokens themselves are securities, and that's just shorthand. I think that
that's an advocacy position. Like, that's not the objective takeaway from their enforcement actions in
the past. And wait, so what, like, I guess what's confusing is the telegrams.
cases from a while back. So why are they changing it now if they're saying like like if that was the
first time that that happened, then why are they only admitting it now? So I think because they've been
losing on this point over time, right? Judges have now gone out of their way like in the Ripple case,
Judge Torres said the tokens themselves are not securities. Even Judge Rakoff said in the
Terraform Labs case, he's even he said the tokens themselves are not securities. He of course goes on to
write an opinion that is not otherwise, you know, is otherwise helpful to the SEC. But in almost every
case where this has come up, the judge has said the tokens themselves are not securities. So I think
the SEC has recognized, especially recently, that that is not going to be a winning position for them.
So now they're like falling back to this position of, well, we never meant that. We met the tokens,
plus all these other things are somehow packaged together and offered in that whole collection as an
investment contract. And I think they need to take that position in order to have a sensical position
in the secondary markets cases, right? Like all their cases against major exchanges, they need
something to travel with the token to the secondary market. Otherwise, their position makes absolutely
no sense. Okay. So does this then mean that their new argument is this sort of like ecosystem argument
or what is their new argument? I mean, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I think their new
is actually an old argument, which is the embodiment theory. I think what they're really saying
here is like the token embodies the investment contract and somehow attendant rights and obligations
are somehow like packaged with the token and then the token is offered as an investment contract
along with these rights and obligations. And I think like I said, they need to take that position
for their exchange cases to make sense. Because if it's just the token, then the secondary sale of a
token without anything else, if you assume the token is actually not the security, is not a
security sale. So they need to take the position that something goes along with the token in the
secondary market sale in order to have their Coinbase and Binance and crack in cases make sense.
Okay. Okay. At this point in time, just in this sort of like long-steening battle between the SEC
and crypto, where do you think all of this is headed? Like if you're looking at all these different
court cases, do you have a prediction on where you think things will end up? I think like it is going
to cause a gray area and it's going to change based on what court you're in front of, right? It's going to
be what the judge in the case in front of the SEC thinks in that particular case until we get
to an appellate court level or even a Supreme Court level or until Congress acts. Because, you know,
you have, you have several cases ongoing right now where the SEC is taking this position. And I would say
that this footnote in Binance actually signals a shift in how they've been thinking about
crypto asset securities. So all the cases that have already been filed, like I'm almost wondering,
are they going to go back to those cases? Like, are they going to go tell the Coinbase judge,
Judge Fala? Actually, when we said crypto asset security, that was shorthand. That's not what we really
meant. I haven't seen that file and go in. But maybe they are. So I think they're causing chaos,
right? Instead of acting like an objective and neutral regulator, I think they're acting like
litigants. They're acting like adversarial litigants. And Gary Gensler, the SEC chair, is set to
testify next week before Congress. So I don't know what you are expecting or what you're curious to
hear from him on any of these issues about, you know, that are involving crypto and the SEC.
I mean, I think they should make him define crypto asset security. I think that they should
say to him, okay, so if the token itself is not a security as you've now arrived at that conclusion,
what is what and who should register with the SEC and what should they register as? I'd love them to
ask him that question. And, you know, I think Rebecca Reddick actually articulated that question
very well in the past. So I'm plagiarizing her a little bit here. But I think that that is the key
question. If the token's not the security, then what is getting registered and who is registering?
Okay. And so recently we also had the first congressional hearing on DFI and you were one of the witnesses. What were your takeaways on that?
So I was very honored, of course, to be invited to speak at the first DFI hearing and it was a great panel.
Rebecca Reddick, Brian Avello and Peter Van Balkenberg. We all sat next to each other and talked about what DEPI is, why it's valuable.
and there was real engagement by the members of Congress on trying to understand Defi and why it's good.
There was also some less helpful engagement about why, you know, in certain people's minds,
defy is associated with criminal activity, but that was to be expected.
And I think the hearing actually went better than anyone even thought it would because there
really was true curiosity and true engagement with the tech.
All right. Well, last question. Here we are.
in the last few weeks before the presidential election.
And I wondered what you thought in terms of, you know, whether or not it mattered,
who would win for crypto regulation and kind of what you were expecting for each of the candidates
if they were to win.
So it is certainly, you know, the crazy run up to November 1st.
And you're seeing that in crypto Twitter and everywhere else people are picking sides.
And at DEF, we are nonpartisan.
We believe crypto should be nonpartisan.
And we will work with whatever administration is next.
And, you know, the American people decide elections.
So I don't know what's going to happen.
But I know that whoever is the president, like we are going to most likely be talking about
some kind of market structure legislation next year.
And I think, you know, who they put into place at the SEC will matter.
Who they put into place at the CFTC will matter.
and we'll just have to be working with those people and in good faith. And hopefully the members of
Congress will also be working in good faith to actually pass legislation that makes sense.
Do you have a preference for who would be the SEC chair if it were Trump and also if it were Harris?
I mean, not Chair Gensler. I don't have. I mean, in my fantasy world, I think Hester Perce becomes the chair,
but I don't know if she would take the job if it was offered to her. Yeah. Well, I think that would only be,
if Trump were elected, right? Because isn't it that it's a commissioner who's of the same party or something that they, okay, okay. Well, all right. Well, we'll see what happens. Thank you so much for sharing all your thoughts on Unchained. Thank you for having me.
Don't forget, next up is the weekly news recap today presented by Wondercraft AI. Stick around for this week in crypto after this short break.
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Welcome to this week's Crypto Roundup.
In today's recap, we cover the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate cut and its effects on crypto markets,
Sam Bankman Freed's appeal citing bias in his trial, and Vitalik Buterin's thoughts on the new era of crypto usability.
We'll also dive into Coinbase's response to rumors about Bitcoin IOUs with BlackRock,
Donald Trump's latest crypto push through his defy project, the SEC's controversial exemptions to
crypto custody rules, and BlackRock's new report positioning Bitcoin as a unique hedge.
Plus, updates on Alex Mishinsky's legal battle and finance founder CZ's upcoming release,
along with Revolut's stable coin plans.
Thanks for tuning into the weekly news recap.
Let's begin. Fed cuts interest rates for first time since 2020.
In a significant macroeconomic development, the U.S. Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by
50 basis points, marking the first reduction since March 2020. While the move is primarily aimed at
managing inflation and economic activity, it has strong implications for cryptocurrency.
Rate cuts can often signal a more favorable environment for risk assets like Bitcoin. Even though
the initial market reaction was muted, Bitcoin surged from $60,000 to around $63,500 on Thursday morning.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of Bitmex, warned that
crypto markets might initially drop after the rate cut, citing narrowing interest rate
differentials between the U.S. dollar and other currencies.
Mike Butler, an options trader, added that volatility in fiat currencies might drive more
people to crypto, reinforcing its role as an alternative to traditional financial systems.
Sam Bankman-Freet Appeals conviction cites judges' bias.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of Collapsed Crypto Exchange, FTCX, has filed an appeal
against his conviction on fraud and money laundering charges. Bankman Freed, who was sentenced to 25 years in
prison, argues that the trial was unfair due to alleged bias by U.S. District Judge Louis Kaplan.
According to the appeal, Kaplan consistently favored the prosecution, ridiculing Bankman
Freed's testimony and undermining his defense team. Bankman Freed's lawyers claim that Kaplan's
actions created an atmosphere of prejudice, which influenced the jury's decision. They also
alleged that the court unfairly restricted evidence showing FTX's potential solvency, which could have
painted a different picture of the company's financial state. His legal team is pushing for a new
trial to be conducted under a different judge. Vitalik Buteran says Crypto's usability era has begun.
Speaking at the token 2049 conference in Singapore, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that
while the crypto industry is no longer in its infancy, it is now entering a phase where usability
is vastly improving.
We're not in the early days anymore, Boutarin said,
highlighting how cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum
have existed for over a decade,
yet practical adoption has lagged
due to issues such as high transaction fees
and difficult user experiences.
Buterin pointed out that Ethereum's fees
have significantly decreased
thanks to upgrades like EIP-159
and Layer 2 solutions,
such as optimism and Arbitrum.
Current ETH transaction
fees are basically zero, he noted, underscoring the impact of these developments on user adoption.
He further argued that crypto doesn't have to compromise decentralization for mainstream
usability, saying, we need to satisfy the needs of mainstream adoption while holding on to
decentralization values. Coinbase denies allegations of Bitcoin IOUs to BlackRock.
Rumors surfaced recently accusing Coinbase of issuing uncollateralized Bitcoin IOUs to BlackRock,
fueling concerns of potential market manipulation.
Cryptoanalyst Tyler Durdin claimed the exchange allowed Black Rock, which manages the largest
spot Bitcoin Exchange traded fund to borrow Bitcoin without proper collateral, allegedly enabling
price manipulation. These accusations gained traction after Tron founder Justin Sun criticized Coinbase's
wrapped Bitcoin product, CBBT, for its lack of proof of reserves and susceptibility to government
seizures. In response, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong swiftly refuted the claims,
clarifying that all ETF transactions are settled on chain within one business day.
Armstrong explained that institutional clients have access to trade financing and over-the-counter
options before trades are fully settled.
Durden has since deleted his original tweet.
Industry experts, including Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seifart, dismiss the rumors,
calling them baseless conspiracy theories.
SafeArt also emphasized the importance of transparency,
urging ETF issuers to share digital wallet addresses to prevent
misinformation, and increased trust in the market. Trump promotes crypto on X-Space, advocates for
D-Fi Project World Liberty Financial. On Monday night, Donald Trump appeared on an X-space to promote his
D-Fi project, World Liberty Financial, and reiterated his strong support for the cryptocurrency
industry. Trump criticized the Biden administration and the SEC for their hostile stance on
crypto, warning that the U.S. risks losing its leadership in the sector if Democrats win in November.
He emphasized the need for a legal framework to regulate crypto while maintaining innovation.
Despite the event being billed as an opportunity to reveal major details about WLF, Trump and his team provided limited details.
They announced the project's governance token, WLFI, which will be sold to accredited investors, with 63% going to the public.
However, the lack of clarity led to skepticism among many in the crypto community.
Odds that Trump would launch a token before the election plummeted from 71.
to 24% on polymarket, as users bet against the token launch, citing vague promises and concerns
over the project's viability. SEC grants exemptions to crypto custody rule, raising industry concerns.
The SEC has revealed that certain financial entities have been granted exemptions from
SAB-121, a controversial accounting rule that has faced backlash for its stringent requirements
on crypto-custody. Introduced in 2022, SAB-B-122.
mandates that institutions holding crypto assets must list them as liabilities on their balance
sheets, making crypto custody cost prohibitive for many firms. In a speech, SEC chief accountant
Paul Munter disclosed that some banks, brokerages, and blockchain entities have been exempted
from this rule. For instance, banks working with state regulators and ensuring asset returns in
the event of bankruptcy can avoid these liabilities. However, the lack of transparency around which
companies have received exemptions, has led to criticism from industry experts.
Crypto advocates, such as Senator Cynthia Lummis, voiced frustration, accusing the SEC of making
policy through closed-door meetings rather than revising SAB-121 directly.
BlackRock highlights Bitcoin as a unique hedge and new report.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has released a report describing Bitcoin as a unique
diversifier against global risks.
In the nine-page white paper, the firm explains that Bitcoin, while volatile, operates independently from traditional asset classes and is minimally affected by macroeconomic factors.
This detachment, BlackRock argues, makes Bitcoin a valuable tool for hedging against risks such as monetary instability, geopolitical tensions, and fiscal concerns.
The report notes that Bitcoin has outperformed other major assets in seven of the past 10 years, despite remaining risky.
BlackRock, which launched one of the most successful spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year with over $21 billion in assets,
sees Bitcoin's potential to serve as a flight to safety during global uncertainties.
The firm also highlights Bitcoin's decentralized nature, free from traditional counterparty risks,
as a key factor in its appeal to investors seeking alternative financial assets amid growing economic challenges.
Mashinsky seeks witness testimonies, CZ set for release.
former Celsius CEO Alex Mishinsky, facing a potential 115-year prison sentence, has requested testimony from six key witnesses for his defense.
His lawyers argue that Mishinsky never intended harm and relied on his SELC team for decisions, including those regarding Celsius's token, C.L.
Among the proposed witnesses is former chief revenue officer Ronnie Cohen-Pavana, who pled guilty to charges of manipulating the price of CL.
Mishinsky's defense maintains that Cohen-Payvon and other employees acted without his knowledge.
Meanwhile, Binance founder Chang Pung CZ Zhao is set for release from prison on September 29th
after serving nearly four months for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
Zhao pled guilty to failing to establish proper KYC protocols at Binance and agreed to a $50 million fine.
Following his guilty plea, Zhao stepped down as CEO and Richard Tang, a former regulator, took over leadership
of the exchange. Revolute prepares to launch its own stable coin. London-based FinTech Giant
Revolut is reportedly in the advanced stages of creating its own stable coin, according to sources
familiar with the matter. The move aligns Revolute with other major players like PayPal, which
launched its P-IUSD token in 2023. However, the stable coin is unlikely to be available in the United
States due to Revolut's previous exit from U.S. Crypto Services amid regulatory challenges.
Revellit, which has grown to 45 million users and recently secured a UK banking license,
is focusing on expanding its crypto offerings.
A spokesperson for the company told CoinDesk,
Crypto is a big part of our belief in banking without borders,
and we aim to become the safest and most accessible provider of crypto asset services.
And that's all. Thanks so much for joining us today.
If you enjoyed this recap, go to UnchainedCripto.substack.com.
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with the latest in crypto. Unchained is produced by Laura Shin with help from Matt Pilchard, Juan Aronovich,
Megan Gavis, Pam Majumdar, and Margaret Korea. The weekly recap was written by Juan Aronovich
and edited by Nelson Wang. Thanks for listening.
Unchained is now a part of the Coin Desk Podcast Network. For the
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