The crypto community and Wall Street converged last week in Nassau, Bahamas, to discuss the future of digital assets during SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference. The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT) was also co-hosted this year by FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, kicked off Crypto Bahamas with a press conference explaining that the goal behind the event was to merge the traditional financial world with the crypto community: “Crypto Bahamas combines the crypto native FTX audience with the SkyBridge asset management firm audience. We are bringing these two worlds together to create a …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that it would nearly double the number of personnel responsible for safeguarding investors in cryptocurrency markets. As per the announcement, the SEC’s Cyber Unit, which includes the Crypto Assets and Cyber team, will hire 20 new people for 50 dedicated positions. The SEC stated that the 20 hires would include investigative staff attorneys, trial lawyers and fraud analysts. Chair Gary Gensler praised the appointments as long overdue and essential to overseeing one of Wall Street’s newest and most popular sectors. This is welcome news to many who have been concerned …

Ripple (XRP) opened in May with a decent price rebound after falling 28% in April, its worst monthly performance since June 2021. Furthermore, the XRP/USD pair shows prospects of continuing its recovery trend in the coming weeks. Support confluence raises XRP bullish prospects XRP's price rose by nearly 6.25% in the first two days of May, going as high as $0.63 (data from Binance). The buying sentiment surged around $0.58, a level that acted as strong support in January 2022 and enabled XRP to rise by more than 50% thereafter. Interestingly, the $0.58-support coincides with XRP's 200-week exponential moving average …

Things are looking up for the United States’ largest institutional Bitcoin (BTC) product by asset holdings. Data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass confirms that as of April 21, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is rebounding toward 2022 highs. Grayscale CEO: “‘If’ not ‘when’” for U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF After a problematic year so far, GBTC has benefitted from steadying Bitcoin price action. Bitcoin’s descent from November’s all-time highs added to an already negative “premium” on GBTC, meaning that its share price, in fact, traded at a discount to the Bitcoin spot price. That discount hit its deepest ever in January …

Asset manager Simplify has filed a registration statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list shares of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to Bitcoin (BTC) futures, Treasury securities, and options. In a Wednesday filing, Simplify applied with the SEC for an investment vehicle based on a Bitcoin futures strategy, an income strategy and an option overlay strategy. The Bitcoin Strategy Risk-Managed Income ETF, to be listed under the ticker MAXI on Nasdaq, is a series of exchange-traded funds from the asset management company. The fund will indirectly invest in BTC using crypto futures and, as part …

Ranking member of the United States House Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets Bill Huizenga sent a letter on Monday to Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler. The letter expressed concerns about the proposed SEC amendments to the Exchange Act of 1934 that would expand the definition of an exchange and the phrase “as a part of regular business.” The congresspeople said the changes could stifle innovation in the digital asset ecosystem. Each said that they understand that communication protocol systems would be included in the definition …

Last week was the Paris Blockchain Week, and the epicenter of crypto policy and regulatory conversation moved to the French capital accordingly. Cointelegraph reported extensively from the ground and ran a series of interviews with some of the crypto industry’s captains who shared their thoughts on the state of regulatory affairs. For one, Binance’s Changpeng Zhao said that he was excited to see regulators embracing financial innovation and introducing crypto-friendly policies, calling it a major trend of 2022. Bertrand Perez, chief operating officer of the Web3 Foundation, opined that many policymakers, including some in the European Union, still tend to …

As adoption takes off, the crypto industry is exerting increasing influence on American society. This can be seen in its lobbying efforts and political action committees, for example, as well as its own organizational efforts, such as forming business associations that promote crypto at the state, regional and national levels. Yet another way crypto is influencing society is through self-regulation. The broader impact of self-regulation may be less apparent than when a PAC finances a political campaign or a startup is nurtured in a crypto industry-sponsored accelerator, and that limited visibility probably reflects the extent of the influence of self-regulatory …

Nonprofit blockchain advocacy group Coin Center has called the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed redefinition of an “exchange” an “unconstitutional overreach.” The lobby group made the comments in a written response to the SEC’s March 18 Amendments Regarding the Definition of “Exchange”, which details changing the meaning of “exchange” from a “system that brings together the orders” of a security to one that “brings together buyers and sellers.” Bringing together orders, which are things, is very different from bringing together people and Coin Center says the latter is tantamount to coercion. The rule change suggests that Communication Protocol Systems …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is increasingly optimistic that the long-running case with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will deliver a positive result for the blockchain-based global payments company. Speaking on the main stage at Paris Blockchain Week on Thursday, Garlinghouse told attendees of the fireside chat that Ripple's defense in the ongoing case was faring better than he expected. “The lawsuit has gone exceedingly well, and much better than I could have hoped when it began about 15 months ago.” Live from #PBWS2022, @bgarlinghouse sat down with @cnbc's @ryan_browne_ to talk crypto regulation, Ripple's global traction and use cases …

Ripple's XRP took a break from its prevailing downtrend as its price rebounded from $0.68 to $0.72 in the last three days. Ripple scores vs. SEC Traders returned to buying XRP after a U.S. court denied the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) request to shield internal documents related to June 2018 speech made by its former director William Hinman, wherein he said Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are not securities. To recap, SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, a San Francisco payment services company, in 2020, alleging that it and its executives Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen conducted illegal …

Ripple Labs has struck a blow against the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) case after the presiding judge made a ruling that one Ripple community lawyer calls “a very big win for Ripple.” The SEC filed suit in 2020 against Ripple and executives Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen for selling unregistered securities. Presiding Judge Sarah Netburn denied the SEC’s request to reconsider shielding documents under privilege related to a June, 2018 speech made by Ripple’s then-director Willian Hinman. In the speech, Hinman said Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities. The SEC previously did not object to those documents …