Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.04.21 Crucial updates abou | Stacked
Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.04.21
Crucial updates about the congressional crypto bills
SEC Chair Gensler finally comments on crypto
ETH, NFTs and DeFi take the market higher
Key last minute amendments made to crypto bill
You know how lobbyists are usually a bad thing? Well, there are CRYPTO lobbyists too, and they're currently fighting for our rights.
It's incredible how far the crypto industry has come that now we have people advocating in Washington DC. That's exactly what CoinCenter, a crypto advocacy group supported by everyone from Grayscale to Fidelity, is doing.
Because of these advocates, a bipartisan coalition made up of Senators Wyden, Loomis, and Toomey has introduced an amendment to the new crypto bill about brokers.
As it stands, the crypto bill in congress casts a wide net over most participants in the crypto space by loosely defining who brokers are. If the bipartisan amendment mentioned above is accepted, brokers will EXCLUDE miners, validators, and software devs and instead will narrowly focus on exchanges like Coinbase.
At the end of the day, Coinbase IS a crypto broker. So it makes sense to have them play by the rules applied to brokers. But miners, validators, and devs are clearly NOT brokers by any stretch of the imagination.
CoinCenter is urging everyone with 5 minutes to spare to call your senators and urge them to accept the bipartisan amendment to who is/isn't a crypto broker.
Follow this link to save the future of crypto — you'll reach a human being within 2 minutes of calling
Remember when Gary Gensler looked promising for crypto?
For a second, Gary Gensler seemed like a god tier SEC chairman. He taught classes at MIT on cryptocurrency and had a history of positive, even enlightened, statements about Bitcoin.
So his first focused statements on crypto were awaited with quiet anticipation by many, and now that he's made them, nobody knows quite what to think.
For starters, Gensler says the SEC will aggressively regulate crypto markets using laws they already have. In other words, laws created decades ago to regulate non-digital assets will be applied to decentralized exchanges swapping synthetic assets, digital tokens, NFTs, and so forth
Gensler went on to reiterate that stablecoins might be securities (despite the fact that they're designed to be, uh, stable), and that exchanges are probably dealing in unregistered securities.
On the bright side, Gensler made several positive comments about Bitcoin, calling it a real innovation, and signaling the possibility of a Bitcoin ETF. He also indicated, or rather reiterated, that Bitcoin is not a security.
Some, like Michael Saylor, believe Gensler's comments were positive for Bitcoin and that clear regulations will boost crypto markets. While that may be true, it also looks a lot like the powers that be want to train crypto to act more like traditional finance.
Where do you stand on Gensler's comments?
Ethereum, NFTs and DeFi trading higher and higher
Maybe it was Eminem, Coinbase, Pantera, and an ex Sotheby's CEO all investing in NFT platform MakersPlace. Or maybe it's Ethereum EIP-1559 upgrade on the verge of happening. No wait, could it be Robinhood's HOOD stock going 2x on Nasdaq?
Whatever it is, there's crazy bullish news and sentiment surrounding Ethereum, NFTs, and DeFi.
Platforms like Axie Infinity are approaching the 1 million users mark, Terra Luna's Anchor DeFi savings platform is posting a 20% increase in deposits, and THORChain is bouncing HARD after a series of exploits.
DeFi stalwarts like Compound and Uniswap have also posted double digit gains this week signaling investor confidence is returning to the space after months on the decline.
Moreover, NFT weekly trading volume surpassed $300 million for the first time as platforms like OpenSea did more volume in 2 days than in all of 2020.
