SEC - Page 92

3456 result(s) found.

Morgan Stanley Warned About ‘Unleashing its Legion of 15,000 Brokers to Pitch BTC’

//

Morgan Stanley, the largest wealth manager in the United States, is likely to face intense compliance scrutiny after permitting its entire team of financial advisers to start pitching spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This move has drawn criticism from crypto skeptic John Reed Stark, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official.

“By unleashing its legion of 15,000 brokers to pitch Bitcoin, Morgan Stanley has just voluntarily subjected themselves to what will likely become the largest SEC and FINRA examination sweep in history,” Stark wrote in an August 9 statement on X (formerly Twitter). He added, “Identifying violations will be like shooting fish in a barrel. So whoever Morgan Stanley’s current compliance director is — well, good luck with that.”

Stark explained that both the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will have immediate access to all records, documents, emails, texts, voicemails, and phone conversations related to Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin sales to retail investors. “This resplendent, abundant, and easily accessible treasure trove of evidence will be available to the SEC and FINRA not only with the click of a mouse in the form of a request for documents or testimony but also upon demand during an on-site surprise ‘for-cause’ inspection,” Stark warned, calling the move “Morgan Stanley’s death wish.”

The criticism follows reports that Morgan Stanley authorized its 15,000 financial advisers to start recommending spot Bitcoin ETFs to high-net-worth clients. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Cointelegraph on August 7 that the firm plans to endorse two Bitcoin ETF products: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.

Crypto industry commentators believe Morgan Stanley’s move could be significant for Bitcoin. Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at crypto venture fund Dragonfly, commented on X, “Expect to see some chunkier inflows in the second half of the year,” adding, “Can you imagine how big this is?”

Since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 11, they have attracted $17.3 billion in inflows, according to data from Farside.

ZAN and Mysten Labs Partner to Advance Web3 Infrastructure Development

Palo Alto, CA, August 13th, 2024, Chainwire

ZAN, the web3 technology brand of Ant Digital Technologies, plans to run a Sui RPC node with Mysten Labs

Mysten Labs, a web3 infrastructure company and the original contributor to the Sui blockchain, today announced a partnership with ZAN, the technology brand of Ant Digital Technologies.

With the integration of Sui, ZAN aims to accelerate the development and adoption of its web3 applications. The collaboration will focus on Mysten Labs lending technological support in two key areas: KYC infrastructure and RPC node services. ZAN will provide KYC services for projects building on Sui, contributing essential compliance solutions for the blockchain. ZAN will also officially launch RPC node services for Sui, enhancing the blockchain’s scalability and accessibility for developers and users in the APAC region.

“We are excited to build a partnership with Mysten Labs. Sui is a star public chain dedicated to technology and value creation, with a rich ecosystem and diverse applications. Similarly, ZAN stems from a technology-driven team, and we are committed to building the next-generation technological infrastructure for the Web3 industry. We look forward to more technical exchanges between each other, jointly promoting innovation and development in the entire industry,” said Cobe Zhang, Chief Operating Officer of ZAN.

Together, Mysten Labs and ZAN will explore building opportunities in areas such as payments, data, digital identity, and more, with the goal of delivering innovative solutions that benefit consumers, businesses, and the local community, with an eye to discovering and supporting web3 super app opportunities. Both organizations are committed to fostering a collaborative environment and look forward to sharing updates on the partnership’s milestones as they are achieved.

“We are thrilled to be working alongside the ZAN team and the broader Ant Digital Technologies, to bring an e-KYC solution to the broader digital asset ecosystem to market,” said Adeniyi Abiodun, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Mysten Labs. “This collaboration marks a significant milestone for Sui and the broader web3 ecosystem in Hong Kong and the broader APAC region. By combining our strengths, we can accelerate the development of innovative applications that will benefit millions of users.”

About Sui

Sui is a first-of-its-kind Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform designed from the bottom up to make digital asset ownership fast, private, secure, and accessible to everyone. Its object-centric model, based on the Move programming language, enables parallel execution, sub-second finality, and rich on-chain assets. With horizontally scalable processing and storage, Sui supports a wide range of applications with unrivaled speed at low cost. Sui is a step-function advancement in blockchain and a platform on which creators and developers can build amazing, user-friendly experiences.

Learn more: https://sui.io

About Mysten Labs

Mysten Labs is a team of leading distributed systems, programming languages, and cryptography experts whose founders were senior executives and lead architects of pioneering blockchain projects. The mission of Mysten Labs is to create foundational infrastructure for web3.

Learn more: https://mystenlabs.com

About ZAN

As a technology brand of Ant Digital Technologies for Web3 products and services, and powered by AntChain Open Labs’ TrustBase open-source technical stack, ZAN provides rich and reliable services for business innovations and a development platform for Web3 endeavors. The ZAN product family includes ZAN eKYC, ZAN KYT, ZAN Smart Contract Review, ZAN Node Service, with more products being on the way.

Learn more:https://zan.top/

About Ant Digital Technologies

Ant Digital Technologies is Ant Group’s digital technology subsidiary. Ant Digital Technologies continues to promote the development and application of digital technologies, introducing leading products like ZOLOZ, mPaaS and ZAN based on its expertise in AI, privacy computing, and security technology. Ant Digital Technologies is committed to working with partners across different industries to support small and medium-sized financial institutions in their digital transformation, enable SMEs in the service industry to operate digitally, and facilitate digital collaboration across industries. Revenue from Ant Digital Technologies’ international business operation increased by 300% in 2023.

Contact

Lexi Wangler
Mysten Labs
lexi.wangler@mystenlabs.com

XRP-Backed Crypto PAC Aiming to Unseat Elizabeth Warren

/

A political action committee (PAC) with donations from crypto industry players, including Ripple, has invested $850,000 in support of Republican John Deaton in the Massachusetts primary. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, the Commonwealth Unity Fund Super PAC spent around $450,000 on direct mail to back Deaton on August 7, and over $500,000 on media buys on August 6. This follows the Super PAC’s earlier expenditure of more than $300,000 on media placements in July.

Deaton, one of three Republicans vying for a U.S. Senate seat representing Massachusetts in 2025, has garnered significant support from the crypto industry. In July, Ripple announced a $1 million donation to the Commonwealth Unity Fund to bolster Deaton’s campaign to unseat Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has held the position since 2013.

In April, Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss contributed $6,600 directly to Deaton’s campaign, the maximum amount allowed for both primary and general election bids. The Winklevoss twins later announced in July a combined $1 million donation to Deaton, though it was unclear whether the funds would go directly to his campaign or supportive PACs.

According to FEC records, Deaton had raised approximately $1.7 million for his Senate bid as of July 31, with about $1 million in cash on hand. In contrast, Senator Warren had raised roughly $6.4 million since January 2023, with $4.9 million in cash on hand as of July.

The Massachusetts primary, scheduled for September 3, is expected to be a significant test for the influence of crypto-related funding in U.S. elections. On August 6, candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives backed by the Fairshake Super PAC and its affiliates won their primaries after more than $4 million was spent on media.

Deaton, a lawyer who has filed amicus briefs in support of crypto firms in legal battles against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, launched his Senate campaign in February.

However, support for Deaton is not unanimous within the crypto industry. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Bitcoin holder and digital asset advocate, endorsed Republican Ian Cain over Deaton in July, citing Cain’s understanding of the “digital economy” and his support for innovation.

As of June, polls showed Senator Warren leading by at least 20 points against Cain and Deaton. She is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Aleph Zero Launches Its EVM-Layer on Mainnet

Zug, Switzerland, August 12th, 2024, Chainwire

Aleph Zero launches its ultra-fast Ethereum-compatible layer-2, expanding its privacy tools and new apps compatible with the world’s biggest web3 ecosystem.

Aleph Zero — a blockchain ecosystem engineered for speed, data confidentiality, and ease of development — today announced the mainnet launch of its new EVM-compatible Layer-2 solution. This significant milestone marks Aleph Zero’s expansion into the Ethereum ecosystem, which will expedite the development and broaden the reach of its zkOS privacy-enhancing solutions.

The Aleph Zero EVM Layer-2 is built in partnership with Gelato, a leading Rollup-as-a-Service provider, and leverages Arbitrum Orbit technology. This combination results in an exceptionally fast and efficient blockchain, boasting a block time of up to 250 milliseconds with near-instant transaction finality. The network is capable of processing thousands of transactions per second, positioning it as one of the fastest EVM-compatible chains available.

“Aleph Zero EVM uses Arbitrum Orbits’ advanced web3 scaling stack–with the most performant developer tooling–to create the most advanced privacy-enhancing blockchain infrastructure on the market. Privacy will become a major narrative in 2024 and beyond, as more mainstream use cases emerge.” — Luis Schliesske, Founder of Gelato

The Layer-2 solution will utilize Aleph Zero’s existing Substrate-based WASM Layer-1 blockchain as its Data Availability layer. This architecture ensures a robust and decentralized foundation for the new EVM environment, benefiting from Aleph Zero’s established network of over 190 validator nodes.

AZERO, the ecosystem token, will be used on the Layer-2 to power all gas transactions similarly to how it’s being used now on the Layer-1.

zkOS Features Coming to Aleph Zero’s EVM-Layer in Q4

zkOS is Aleph Zero’s new comprehensive privacy framework designed to make integrating confidentiality features into blockchain applications more accessible and user-friendly. This aligns with Aleph Zero’s vision of making privacy-enhancing technologies easier to use, with the optimization benchmarks showing the system’s ability of proving ZK proofs in less than a second on consumer devices.

zkOS consolidates Aleph Zero’s privacy products into a single, developer-friendly toolkit that doesn’t require deep cryptographic knowledge to implement. zkOS aims to solve existing challenges in on-chain privacy, such as poor user experience, long proving times, and limited multisig capabilities. By optimizing zero-knowledge proof generation to under a second on consumer devices, zkOS strives to make privacy features more practical and economically beneficial for both new and existing applications across multiple blockchain ecosystems.

“EVM, with its user base and well-developed tooling, allows us to expedite the development of zkOS privacy framework and bring it to the second-largest market in crypto beyond Bitcoin. This is a perfect addition to our Layer-1 and adds optionality for developers and users alike.” – said Adam Gagol, Co-founder of Aleph Zero.

The first use cases already building on Aleph Zero EVM include:

  • pieces.market – a luxury Real-World Asset (RWA) marketplace.
  • Syncra – a DAO-as-a-Service platform with private voting features.
  • Upcade – an web3 gaming hub.
  • Rarible – the NFT marketplace.
  • DRKVRS – a web3 multiplayer RPG game.
  • idOS – a privacy-enhanced decentralized identity operating system.
  • Tubbly – a walk-to-earn game.

Introducing vib3s

vib3s, another use case on the Aleph Zero EVM, is set to enable the sports and entertainment industries to deepen their customer and fanbase relationships with the power of Web3.

This whitelabel service allows organizations to quickly introduce innovative apps that boost retention and loyalty within their user base, with an easy-to-deploy product that can be customized towards the needs of any organization.

Among the key features, users will find the newsfeed, an embedded crypto wallet, on-chain loyalty points system, thematic games for fan engagement, branded card payments, loyalty points cashback, among others. An important part of the app is its privacy-respecting nature that makes it compliant with the GDPR laws.

vib3s is powered by the Aleph Zero blockchain and the Upcade gaming hub, as well as solutions from Holyheld, Thirdweb, idOS, and others.

The project will launch its first implementation this month, targeting a large-scale entertainment use case in Europe.

For more information about Aleph Zero, users can visit https://alephzero.org. 

About Aleph Zero

Aleph Zero is an ecosystem of blockchain solutions that are engineered for speed, data confidentiality, and ease of development. It achieves efficiencies akin to conventional web2 systems, upholds rigorous standards for data protection via highly optimized Zero Knowledge Proofs, and offers a comprehensive toolset for development across web3 that range from WASM to EVM environments. Aleph Zero’s versatility is highlighted by over 40 use cases being actively developed, showcasing its adaptability across various sectors and applications. These use cases are part of an engaged community and growing ecosystem of web3 applications that are supported by Aleph Zero programs.

For any enquiries about this release, users can contact josh@serotonin.co or ana@serotonin.co

Contact

PR Manager
Josh Adams
Aleph Zero
josh@serotonin.co

WhitePool by WhiteBIT Hits Top 15 Mining Pools at Launch

Vilnius, Lithuania, August 8th, 2024, Chainwire

WhiteBIT, one of Europe’s largest crypto exchanges, has announced the launch of a new product—the WhitePool mining pool. This innovative platform marks a significant step in the development of WhiteBIT ecosystem and opens up extensive opportunities for professional miners.

The global cryptocurrency mining market is set for growth, with its market size expected to reach approximately $2.45 billion in 2024 and a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.90% through 2032. As the cryptocurrency sector continues to evolve, Bitcoin miners are seeing daily returns currently at $30.72 million—a 6.27% increase compared to the previous year. This growth underscores the potential and expanding opportunities within the cryptocurrency mining industry.

To cater to professional miners seeking an efficient and streamlined cryptocurrency mining solution, WhiteBIT crypto exchange has introduced its own mining pool, WhitePool. Featuring a user-friendly interface and support for the SHA256 algorithm, it ensures optimal resource allocation and potential returns for miners. Participation requires users to register on WhiteBIT exchange and connect their mining equipment.

“WhitePool prioritizes miners’ interests by offering top-tier service for efficient collective mining. Our objective was to establish a mining pool that not only meets current demands but also sets a new benchmark for the industry, expanding opportunities for the mining community and evolving alongside them,” said Volodymyr Nosov, CEO of WhiteBIT.

Following its successful launch, WhitePool is currently featured in the top 15 mining pools ranking due to its high hashrate and benefits for users.

Functional and Clear Interface

An essential feature of WhitePool is its user-friendly interface and comprehensive functionality for monitoring equipment and tracking rewards. Users can easily monitor equipment status and set notifications for changes in worker states.

Accrual of Rewards Without Additional Fee

Typically, users must reach a minimum BTC amount, manually initiate fund transfers, wait for processing, and manage wallets to receive rewards. With WhitePool, rewards are automatically credited in Bitcoin (BTC) to the user’s main exchange balance without any additional steps. This eliminates the need for manual fund transfers, waiting for transaction processing, and paying network fees.

FPPS Reward Model

WhitePool operates on the FPPS (Full Pay Per Share) reward model. FPPS ensures miners receive rewards for each share contributed, regardless of whether the pool finds a block. This approach guarantees a predictable rewards stream, as payouts are made based on each share contributed, irrespective of the pool’s success in finding blocks.

VIP Program for High-Power Miners

The VIP program offers several benefits, including reduced commissions, stable rewards for miners using powerful equipment, and additional features to be announced soon.

All users who connect their equipment to WhitePool from August 1 to August 31 will receive VIP status for two months (from August 1 to September 30) and enjoy a 50% discount on the commission, paying only 1%. The standard fee is 2%.

Professional Multilingual Support Team Available 24/7

The expert support team is available 24/7 to assist miners in English, Spanish, Turkish, and other languages for seamless communication.

WhitePool is an integral part of the WhiteBIT crypto exchange infrastructure, recognized as one of the top 3 most secure exchanges through audit by Hacken.io.

About WhiteBIT

WhiteBIT is one of the largest European centralized crypto exchanges founded in 2018. The exchange offers 520+ trading pairs, 270+ digital assets, and 10 state currencies. The company is an official partner of the Ukrainian national football team, FC Barcelona, FC Trabzonspor, FACEIT. The goal of WhiteBIT is the mass implementation of blockchain technology worldwide.

Contact

WhiteBIT PR Service
pr@whitebit.com

Morgan Stanley Warned About ‘Unleashing its Legion of 15,000 Brokers to Pitch Bitcoin’

//

Morgan Stanley, the largest wealth manager in the United States, is likely to face intense compliance scrutiny after permitting its entire team of financial advisers to start pitching spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This move has drawn criticism from crypto skeptic John Reed Stark, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official.

“By unleashing its legion of 15,000 brokers to pitch Bitcoin, Morgan Stanley has just voluntarily subjected themselves to what will likely become the largest SEC and FINRA examination sweep in history,” Stark wrote in an August 9 statement on X (formerly Twitter). He added, “Identifying violations will be like shooting fish in a barrel. So whoever Morgan Stanley’s current compliance director is — well, good luck with that.”

Stark explained that both the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will have immediate access to all records, documents, emails, texts, voicemails, and phone conversations related to Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin sales to retail investors. “This resplendent, abundant, and easily accessible treasure trove of evidence will be available to the SEC and FINRA not only with the click of a mouse in the form of a request for documents or testimony but also upon demand during an on-site surprise ‘for-cause’ inspection,” Stark warned, calling the move “Morgan Stanley’s death wish.”

The criticism follows reports that Morgan Stanley authorized its 15,000 financial advisers to start recommending spot Bitcoin ETFs to high-net-worth clients. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Cointelegraph on August 7 that the firm plans to endorse two Bitcoin ETF products: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.

Crypto industry commentators believe Morgan Stanley’s move could be significant for Bitcoin. Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at crypto venture fund Dragonfly, commented on X, “Expect to see some chunkier inflows in the second half of the year,” adding, “Can you imagine how big this is?”

Since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 11, they have attracted $17.3 billion in inflows, according to data from Farside.

Tornado Cash Developer Seeks Funding Amid Legal Battle

/

The legal battle involving Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev has reached a crucial stage as he urgently seeks additional funding to continue his defense for privacy rights and the freedom to publish code.

Pertsev, who was arrested two years ago and is now engaged in a high-stakes legal dispute, faces significant challenges against well-resourced government forces pursuing his prosecution. According to a support account for Pertsev and his co-developer Roman Storm, Pertsev has exhausted his financial resources. “It’s time to take a stand with Alexey and fight for what’s right,” the account stated, emphasizing the need for between $750,000 and $1 million to cover ongoing legal expenses.

The crypto community has shown strong support for Pertsev and Storm, both of whom have been charged with money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business through the Tornado Cash crypto mixing service. This support led to the creation of JusticeDAO, an advocacy group dedicated to raising funds for the developers’ legal defenses. By June 19, the group had raised over 654 Ether (approximately $2.3 million at that time) through a fundraiser titled “Free Alexey & Roman” on the decentralized platform Juicebox.

Additionally, another 70 Ether was raised via the JusticeDAO page. Juicebox has maintained transparency by releasing a publicly available spreadsheet detailing the expenses of the “Free Alexey & Roman” fund, which shows that $1.39 million was spent on legal fees between December 2023 and May 2024.

Despite these efforts, the financial burden of Pertsev’s legal battle remains substantial. He continues to be incarcerated after being denied bail, and his legal team is preparing to appeal the charges of money laundering. Complicating matters, Pertsev’s request to access a computer to prepare for his appeal was denied, highlighting the difficulties he faces in mounting an effective defense.

Pertsev was found guilty of money laundering by the ‘s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal in the Netherlands on May 14, receiving a sentence of five years and four months in prison. The court ruled that Pertsev laundered $1.2 billion worth of illicit assets through Tornado Cash. This verdict followed a November 2023 ruling in which a Dutch court denied Pertsev’s request for release under surveillance, citing concerns that he posed a flight risk.

During his March trial, Pertsev argued that he should not be held responsible for the actions of individuals who used the Tornado Cash protocol for illegal activities. However, the court rejected this argument, stating that Pertsev and his co-founders could have taken additional measures to prevent the protocol’s criminal misuse.

Ripple Labs Begins Rolling Out USD-Pegged Stablecoin

/

On August 9, Ripple Labs announced the initial tests of its United States dollar-pegged stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum mainnets. The company also revealed plans to deploy the fiat-backed token on additional blockchain networks in the future.

Ripple Labs stated that RLUSD will be overcollateralized, meaning each unit of RLUSD will be backed by USD reserves or short-term cash equivalents at a 1:1 ratio with the US dollar. To ensure transparency and accountability, Ripple has promised third-party audits of the underlying cash assets and will publish monthly reports on the reserves.

The firm also reaffirmed its commitment to both XRP and RLUSD, dispelling rumors that it would shift focus from XRP to its new stablecoin.

Ripple Labs emphasized that the stablecoin is currently in beta testing with enterprise partners and cautioned users to be wary of scammers claiming to offer early access to RLUSD, which is not yet available for purchase or live trading.

This announcement follows an August 7 ruling by Judge Analisa Torres, which imposed a $125-million penalty on Ripple Labs in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit, originally filed in 2020. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse described the penalty as a “victory” against the SEC, which had sought a $2-billion fine for alleged securities violations.

Following the ruling, XRP saw a surge in its price, climbing 26% to reach $0.64 on the same day.

Despite these positive developments, Ripple Labs’ Q2 2024 XRP Markets Report highlighted a 65.6% drop in transaction volume on the XRPL, falling from 251 million transactions in the first quarter to 88 million in the second quarter. The report also noted a significant increase in the average cost per transaction on the ledger.

Crypto Exchange Urges US Regulators to Retract Controversial Regulation

/

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has urged U.S. regulators to retract a proposed regulation that would ban all event contracts on decentralized prediction markets if implemented.

In an August 8 letter to Christopher Kirkpatrick, the secretary of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Gemini highlighted the negative impact this rule could have, particularly on prediction markets used to forecast elections.

“We highlight the adverse impact that this rule would have on prediction markets, including prediction markets used to forecast elections,” the letter stated.

Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, further emphasized on social media the importance of crypto prediction platforms like Polymarket, noting the transparency they offer users.

“The CFTC should withdraw its Proposed Rule on event contracts, which would categorically ban all event contracts in the U.S., like those traded on Polymarket, the world’s largest prediction market,” Winklevoss wrote in an August 9 post on X (formerly Twitter). He argued that these platforms differ from polls or expert opinions because they require participants to back their predictions with money, thereby ensuring a higher level of commitment and accuracy. “Decentralized prediction markets are a significant innovation with real public utility,” Winklevoss added, highlighting that platforms like Polymarket’s proof-of-stake requirement give them integrity that other platforms cannot match.

Crypto exchange Coinbase also expressed concerns about the proposed rule. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, argued that “the proposal fails to recognize the public benefits of prediction markets.” He urged the CFTC to work with academic, industry, and policy stakeholders to find a more balanced approach that fosters innovation while protecting the public interest.

The debate comes as five U.S. senators and three representatives renewed calls for the CFTC to ban betting on the 2024 presidential election, arguing that such markets could “influence and interfere with elections and further erode public trust in democracy.”

This discussion occurs amid a surge in activity on Polymarket, with the platform recording $387.03 million in volume in July, surpassing previous records.

Gemini Founder Accuses Kamala Harris’ Crypto ‘Reset’ of Being a Scam

/

The recent enforcement action by the United States Federal Reserve against the crypto-friendly Customers Bank has fueled speculation about Vice President Kamala Harris’ sincerity in improving relations with the cryptocurrency industry.

On August 9, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his concerns. “Today, the Fed confirmed that Operation Choke Point 2.0 remains in full swing, provided valuable insight into how it works, and verified that the Harris crypto ‘reset’ is a scam,” Winklevoss stated.

The Federal Reserve’s 13-page enforcement action requires Customers Bank to give a 30-day advance notice before establishing any new banking relationships with cryptocurrency companies. Winklevoss pointed out the significant implications of this action, noting that Customers Bank is among the few remaining crypto-friendly banks in the U.S. He argued that the Federal Reserve is now effectively controlling which crypto companies can access banking services, thereby limiting their operational capabilities.

Winklevoss criticized the centralization of decision-making power within the Fed, asserting that such decisions should be decentralized and left to individual banks.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson echoed Winklevoss’s concerns, suggesting that the current U.S. administration, led by President Joe Biden, is hostile towards the crypto industry. Hoskinson warned that voting for Harris would be detrimental to the U.S. crypto sector, implying that she would continue what he perceives as a “war on crypto.”

In July, a group of U.S. lawmakers and congressional candidates sent a letter to Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, urging party leaders to adopt a more progressive stance on digital assets and blockchain technology.

This comes amid a challenging period for the U.S. banking sector, which between March and August 2023, saw the collapse of several banks that had served crypto businesses, including Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank.

1 … 90 91 92 93 94 … 346