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The Chamber of Commerce Throws in with Coinbase

Plus CZ tries to get out of Binance US and Sherman gets mad at Barry too

Author

Nathaniel Whittemore
May 12, 2023

The Breakdown First Five - Friday May 12, 2023

5. Sherman gets mad at Barry, too

Hot off his incendiary, sound-bite ridden appearance at Wednesday’s hearing, Congressman Brad Sherman has picked a new bugaboo in Grayscale and parent company DCG. In a letter to the SEC, Sherman called investors “trapped” due to the GBTC discount. DCG is under pressure to settle issues with Genesis creditors this week as $630M in debt comes due.

4. Our Decentralized future

Uniswap volumes have topped Coinbase for the fourth month in a row. The Decentralized Ethereum exchange has seen big volume on unlisted memecoins recently, but both exchanges are down significantly from trading volumes in March.

3. CZ wants out of Binance.US

CZ has reportedly been trying to exit his ownership stake in Binance.US since last summer in a bid to present a cleaner image to US regulators. Reputational and regulatory issues keep piling up for the world’s largest exchange as executives continue to assert that the problems are all in the past.

2. McHenry & Huizenga demand answers

Lawmakers Patrick McHenry and Bill Huizenga have dumbed down their ask of the SEC to one simple request, a list of firms that have tried to register as Crypto exchanges. Despite multiple letters this year, the SEC has so far presented little of use to Congressional requests for information, leaving officials irate and threatening a hearing.

1. Chamber of Commerce weighs in

The largest lobbying body in America, the Chamber of Commerce, has filed an Amicus brief in support of the Coinbase lawsuit against the SEC. They called the SEC’s actions not just “harmful policy” but also “unlawful”, claiming that the “regulatory chaos is by design, not happenstance.” This could be shaping up to be the most consequential Crypto litigation in history.

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Thanks for reading -NLW