TL;DR

• The SEC appears to be on a war path with crypto.

• We've seen this reflected in their actions against Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank, the Kraken exchange, and most recently: the KuCoin exchange.

• The New York Attorney General's office recently alleged that by selling Ethereum (ETH), KuCoin was pedaling unregistered securities.

• KuCoin will likely settle outside of court, in order to avoid a long and drawn out court battle, and risk setting a legal precedent.

Full Story

Imagine if when electricity was first discovered, local authorities said:

'Hmmm, nah, this stuff is too dangerous. If it's not installed properly, it could hurt folks. We can't allow this into our every day lives.'

There's a growing sentiment in the crypto community, that the federal government looks at blockchain technology in a similar way.

Is crypto as important as the discovery of electricity? Absolutely not.

That said, it does have the potential to be a massively transformative technology, if governed and regulated properly.

But right now, proponents of the U.S. federal government (specifically the S.E.C.) seem to be taking the 'hmmm, nah, too dangerous - let's ban it' approach.

We've seen this reflected in their actions against Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank, the Kraken exchange, and most recently: the KuCoin exchange.

The New York Attorney General's office recently alleged that by selling Ethereum (ETH), KuCoin was pedaling unregistered securities.

If proven in court, this would place Ethereum under the purview of the SEC.

But as we mentioned in our article 'A Beginners Guide to Not Worrying About the SEC's Attack on Crypto,' KuCoin will likely settle outside of court, in order to avoid a long and drawn out court battle, and risk setting a legal precedent.

That said, this attack has in no way gone un-noticed.

Brian Quintenz, a former Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner and current head of policy at a16z, put it bluntly:

“The SEC is completely out of control. They’re going rogue,”

If anyone needs us, we'll be re-reading our self-penned guide on how to not worry about the SEC's attack on crypto.

(While listening to our 'Ocean Sounds' CD).