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Consensys Sues SEC Over Ethereum Classification

Plus FBI Highlights Risks in Crypto Mixing Post-Samourai

Author

Nathaniel Whittemore
April 26, 2024

The Breakdown First Five - Friday, April 26, 2024

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

Consensys Sues SEC Over Ethereum Classification

5. ‘Buy Bitcoin’ Sign Sells

The auction for the infamous ‘buy Bitcoin’ sign has sold at 16 Bitcoin, a little more than $1M. The sign was held up behind Janet Yellen during a 2017 congressional hearing, making Bitcoin history. The auction was one by a psuedonymous bidder, “Squirrekkywrath.” He attended Pubkey to make the final bid, but no one in the community has ever heard of this guy before. 

4. Blackrock Streak Broken

It was a good run, but Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF has recorded zero inflows for the first time since launch. Inflows for 71 days straight puts Blackrock in the top ten across the ETF industry. In terms of AUM gathered during that period they’re number one and it’s not at all close. The ETFs have turned down over the past month, with net outflows over the past two days. Still, it’s hard to see the Bitcoin ETFs as anything other than a smash success for asset managers. 

3. Stripe Reintroduces Crypto Payments

Fintech behemoth Stripe has reintroduced crypto payments after six long years relying exclusively on fiat rails. In 2018 they shuttered their Bitcoin payments option citing high volatility and fees. This time, Stripe is using USDC on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon. The live demo wowed the crowd with microsecond settlement times and onchain conformation. The product will launch in the summer, with Stripe abstracting out the fiat conversion for merchants. 

2. FBI Warns Crypto Users

The FBI has issued a warning to crypto users, stop using unregistered money transmitters or you could lose your funds. The warning came after Samourai was shut down by the agency and highlighted that mixing your crypto with illicit funds could lead to government imposed losses. It was a little unclear how broad the warning was intended to be, as it could equally apply to most of DeFi which doesn’t KYC or hold money transmitter licenses. 

1. Conensys Sues the SEC

Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys has sued the SEC seeking a declaration that Ethereum isn’t a security and Metamask isn’t a broker. The firm disclosed that they received a Wells notice earlier this month and decided to go on the offensive. Consensys have hired the same legal team as Coinbase to run the lawsuit and are bringing it in the 5th Circuit in Texas, an apparent strategy to split decisions in preparation for the inevitable Supreme Court appeal.