🚨 Crypto down? Here's what's next

GM everyone. This is 2036, the crypto newsletter that pays you.

Here’s what we’re serving up today 🍲: What a week. The SEC fired on all cylinders and sued everybody. Is this the end of crypto in the US?

Let’s dig in.

🥔 Today’s meat and potatoes

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The last couple of days have felt like a true crypto sh*tstorm:

• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance

• They then sued Coinbase (the same company the government uses to sell their own bitcoin…)

• Then the SEC Chairman went on TV saying, “we don’t need more digital currency”

• And a US court summoned Binance CEO CZ

…all in the span of 3 days. Jeez.

We covered why the SEC went after Binance on Monday.

And now the SEC is saying Coinbase has been operating as an unregistered broker, clearing agency, and securities exchange.

(despite Coinbase meeting 30 times with the SEC in 2022 to ask for guidance on how to register…)

This follows months of attacks on crypto.

Earlier this year, Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature Bank - crypto’s 3 biggest banking partners - were shut down.

Then, dozens of celebrities got sued for their endorsement of crypto. And Paxos, the issuer of BUSD - the 3rd largest stablecoin in the world - was forced to stop.

So what’s next for crypto?

The US government has openly declared war on crypto.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler (who applied for a job at Binance in 2019 and got rejected…) is going after crypto with full force.

Elizabeth Warren is raising an anti-crypto army and wants to ban it altogether. And Joe Biden has put “wealthy tax cheats” and “crypto traders” in the same bucket.

But that doesn’t mean crypto is dead. Far from it.

This can go one of 2 ways -

Option A: the US cracks down on crypto, which moves overseas and thrives.

Crypto is a global asset.

33 countries already have or are actively building comprehensive legal frameworks for crypto, including the UK, UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong (which opens the door to China).

The US could lose its lead, along with 1 million jobs. The innovation will then be captured by the global East and South.

Option B: the US regulates crypto and embraces innovation. Crypto thrives in the US.

Right now, it doesn’t look like that’s happening anytime soon.

The US risks making the same mistake with the crypto that it’s doing with AI i.e. not embracing it aggressively.

Maybe the SEC loses its suits. Maybe Chairman Gensler gets replaced. Maybe Congress intervenes. Who knows.

But crypto will keep fighting, and crypto will keep growing.

That’s why it was built in the first place - to exist outside the purview of centralized institutions that seek total control.

Crypto is the freedom to transact.

And there are no constitutional rights without the freedom to transact.

We’re optimistic about crypto - more than ever. Despite a coordinated attack, crypto hardly moved.

But the US will need to step up its game and embrace it.

Of course, we’ll keep you updated on everything you need to know.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in going deeper into what’s happening, here are some resources worth checking out:

🍨 Dessert

Stories to read if you have FOMO

1/ SEC accuses Binance of redirecting billions of customer funds to its founder

2/ The SEC is fighting the last war

3/ The Eurozone enters recesssion

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