The Breakdown First Five - Wednesday, September 25, 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.

5. Harris Won’t Elaborate

Hope you enjoyed the Harris crypto pivot, because according to reports, that’s all you’re likely to get. Senior Campaign officials are said to be meeting with top crypto industry insiders, but the policy details won’t be made public. Coinbase’s Paul Grewal said he has been engaged in frequent discussions, but it’s not “practical or realistic” to expect “fully thought-out, complete approaches to regulating crypto any more than they do any other industry.”

4. Caroline Gets Two Years

We’re getting close to closing the book on FTX with Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in prison. The judge acknowledged “you were vulnerable and you were exploited” in applying the reduced sentence. Ellison is also ordered to repay $11B, which functionally means her earnings will be garnished for a considerable time. The judge praised her testimony, stating he had seen many cooperators in 30 years, but had never seen one like Ellison.

3. Bitwise: Big Guys Allocating

According to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, “the most powerful people in finance” are allocating to crypto. In a memo to clients, he reflected on an investor summit in Florida for top financial advisors. Each year he attends, Hougan asks how many are allocated. The response is usually 10-20%. This year, “nearly every hand in the room went up.” Describing the year-on-year increase, Houghan said “whoa.”

2. SEC Settles with TUSD

A news SEC enforcement action every day as the agency comes to the end of their fiscal year. Today’s action was brought against the California companies who initially issued TUSD. The stablecoin has long since been sold off and collapsed in market share, but the SEC still brought allegations of fraud. The claim that TUSD’s operators were secretly investing the reserves in a “speculative and risky offshore commodity fund." 

1.  Gensler Dismantled

The full SEC Commission was present for a house oversight hearing that featured resounding condemnation of the Gensler agenda. Tom Emmer tore shreds off the Chairman for being the most “historically destructive” and “lawless” SEC Chair. Commissioner Mark Uyeda, a career SEC staffe, just seemed disappointed. He lamented that his beloved agency had strayed from their mission and stopped being the “gold standard in administrative rulemaking.”