This Week on Crypto Twitter: Outrage Over the SEC Crypto Crackdown - Decrypt

This Week on Crypto Twitter: Outrage Over the SEC Crypto Crackdown – Decrypt

Time Stamp: June 11, 2023 1:01 PM
Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

Many leading cryptocurrencies plummeted in price this week after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission launched high-profile enforcement actions against cryptocurrency exchange titans Binance and Coinbase for allegedly violating securities laws. 

The coins worst affected by the news were Solana, Polygon and Cardano, which were all labeled as securities offerings in the SEC’s Binance lawsuit. 

Needless to say, it was a phenomenally busy week on the world’s favorite microblogging platform as people digested the news. Here’s how this pivotal week played out on Crypto Twitter. 

On Monday, self-styled crypto sleuth @Leerzeit made an interesting observation. It should be noted here that former SEC director Bill Hinman in 2018 delivered a speech in which he explained his reasoning for why Bitcoin and Ethereum should not be considered securities. 

Hinman’s speech recently became the subject of the SEC’s lawsuit against XRP progenitor Ripple, which was sued by the regulator for offering unlicensed securities. A court recently blocked the SEC’s motion to block access to documents related to this speech, saying the material was “subject to a strong presumption of public access.” 

On Monday, the SEC sued Binance and in its filing listed several altcoins as securities. User @0xMert_ said the news was an industry call to arms. 

Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson shared his two cents on the enforcement action in a lengthy tweet that was endorsed by Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. 

Web3 law pundit James Murphy (a.k.a. MetaLawMan) wrote a thread about how the SEC’s complaint provided closure to an unresolved plot thread from 2021. 

On Tuesday, CZ apparently needed some public validation, and most of his followers obliged. 

Also that day, CNBC host Jim Cramer tried fanning the flames of a bank run on Binance, attracting comment from not one but two crypto CEOs. 

Former Twitter co-founder/CEO and current Square CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a controversial opinion about Ethereum.

Coinbase hit back against the SEC’s enforcement action on Tuesday with some counter propaganda with a natty bassline.

Some revealing banter was passed between CZ and Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss.  

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Wednesday responded to a public petition that Coinbase had filed against the SEC way back in July, asking the regulator to clarify its rules on which digital assets constitute securities offerings. Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal tweeted about it. 

Pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis released a statement about the Coinbase lawsuit. 

Blockchain-savvy lawyer Jake Chervinsky accused the SEC of clutching at straws with its definitions of securities. 

Analyst Adam Cochran wrote a very juicy multi-tweet thread summing up some of the SEC’s most incriminating evidence against Binance. 

On Thursday, Crypto Twitter was hit by the bombshell that CZ and Gary Gensler have a history. 

CZ was busy trying to put out a fire that day. 

On Friday, popular investing app Robinhood announced that it was delisting the coins listed as securities in the SEC’s Binance lawsuit. 

Binance.US published a lengthy notice saying that it would be suspending dollar deposits and withdrawals as it transitions to a “crypto-only exchange.”

Finally, the weekend brought talk of another Saturday Bitcoin dump. Dubai-based “Titan of Crypto” was among many observers who cautioned against panic. “Each cycle this kind of thing happens,” he wrote. “Whales love to dump it on the weekends.”

Marketwatcher “Professor Few” also offered a long view of what might be happening.

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