EddieJayonCrypto
14 Feb 23
• Did Circle and Coinbase have something to do with the Paxos investigations?• SEC is taking a vote on treating crypto firms as qualified custodians• Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, is in Washington, trying to meet with anyone that will listen• MoonPay cuts credit card payments deal with Magic Eden a...
• Did Circle and Coinbase have something to do with the Paxos investigations?• SEC is taking a vote on treating crypto firms as qualified custodians• Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, is in Washington, trying to meet with anyone that will listen• MoonPay cuts credit card payments deal with Magic Eden as the NFT marketplace lays off 22• It looks like FOMC Vice Chair Lael Brainard is getting tapped by Biden to be his top economic advisorIf you have big enough backers, they can help you clear the field. Here is what is on my mind today.1. No one should be surprised by the move the SEC made against Paxos. The rumors are out there that Circle and Coinbase may have been behind the troubles at Paxos and is being reported by Bloomberg. Both companies are either back by and/or in business with BlackRock. I am sure there is more to come from this, but if this is even remotely true, then it makes sense that the team over at Tether are trying to get ahead of things with news getting out about their connection to Cantor Fitzgerald. Added to that would be back on December 9th when I reported that Coinbase was starting to tell people to move off of Tether and move to USDC. Paxos says they will fight if they have to, but they are small. 2. Until there is an increase in crypto adoption, having on and off-ramps for fiat is a necessity for the crypto industry and the US federal government is not making it easy. I think that will be the case until the traditional financial industry has everything in place to fare better in the new world. Tossing another wrench into the process, the SEC could be looking into hampering hedge funds and pension funds from working with crypto custodians. I am not sure if that could ever become a reality given where and how BlackRock is connected across the Cryptoverse. Mind you Through all of this the SEC is about to vote on a new rule to oversee crypto firms as qualified custodians. 3. Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, is in Washington, DC, to speak with regulators following all of the recent upheaval caused by the SEC. In a tweet to his 1.1M followers that he had a meeting canceled and was issuing an open invitation to regulators to see if we can get regulatory clarity for crypto this year. I am fully expecting no one to take him up on it. Republicans don't need the heat and Democrats don't really support the industry. 4. MoonPay seems to be on the move. They just cut a deal with NFT marketplace Magic Eden to offer credit card payments. Even as the marketplace is feeling the pinch, laying off 22 from its staff. This is on the heels of MoonPay cutting a similar deal with competitive marketplace, LooksRare. 5. Bloomberg is reporting that Biden has tapped Lael Brainard, Fed Vice Chairwoman since May 2022, to be his top economic advisor. Most notably, she has been leading the charge in the development of the digital dollar. She has said the Fed has been monitoring the crypto industry. She went on to say there needs to be strong regulatory guardrails for a resilient infrastructure. I think her views on the nascent industry are more hawkish than anything else.