Month: June 2024

President Biden offers pardons to vets convicted under the military's former ban on same sex relationships. Julian Assange a free man. Devastating Midwest floods. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.

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The SEC won’t pursue enforcement against Ethereum 2.0, but why? How much of a role did politics play? And where does that leave staking and court cases involving companies such as Consensys and Coinbase? 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Last week, Consensys revealed that the SEC had concluded an investigation into Ethereum 2.0, referring to when Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake one.

In this episode, Laura Brookover, senior counsel & head of litigation and investigations at Consensys, and Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, explore the implications of this decision on Ether’s status as a commodity versus a security, and why the SEC dropped the pursuit, including whether the shifting political winds played a role. For instance, how much of the decision was influenced by the ETH ETF approvals, Democrats crossing party lines to vote for FIT21 and the repeal of SAB 121, and/or SEC crypto enforcement chief David Hirsch’s resignation? 

In this discussion, they also explained why the closure doesn’t necessarily mean that staking, or restaking, is safe from the SEC. Plus, what’s the impact of this closure on the other big crypto cases, such as Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, and Ripple? 

Show highlights:

• How Consensys managed to get the SEC to reveal that it had concluded its investigation into Ethereum 2.0, and the significance of that move
• The SEC's possible reasoning behind investigating Ethereum after it had switched to proof of stake
• How uncommon is it for the SEC to send a letter concluding an investigation like the one into Ethereum
• Whether recent events around crypto as an election issue, the ETH ETF approvals, votes for FIT21 and the repeal of SAB 121, and David Hirsch’s resignation, might be connected to the decision to close this investigation
• Whether the Biden administration has shifted its stance on crypto and whether Gensler should remain as chair
• How the SEC might still go after staking
• Whether restaking, such as pioneered by EigenLayer, is safe from regulatory actions
• Why the SEC might be pursuing different judgments in various jurisdictions for MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet
• What crucial evidence from the closed Ethereum 2.0 investigation could strengthen Coinbase's defense in its ongoing lawsuit
• Why the SEC's aggressive stance on various crypto enforcement actions seems to remain unchanged despite closing the Ethereum 2.0 investigation
• Why Sam and Laura believe Solana should not be considered a security, despite the SEC naming it as such in various crypto cases
• How the SEC’s argument about an “ecosystem” is nonsensical, according to Laura Brookover
• What the implications of the closed investigation are for the cases of Kraken and Ripple
• What Sam and Laura B. are watching out for in terms of regulation and ongoing legal cases

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Polkadot

Guests:

• Laura Brookover, Senior Counsel & Head of Litigation and Investigations at Consensys
• 
  
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Consensys’s Lawsuit Against The SEC: Will It End Gensler's ‘Unlawful Power Grab’?
• 
  
• Sam Enzer, Partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• 
  
• The Real Reason Why the SEC Might Be Going After Ethereum
• How 'a Criminal Choice' Got Sam Bankman-Fried a 25-Year Prison Sentence
• Why the SEC’s Case Against Coinbase Is So Significant for Crypto
• Why SBF’s Testimony So Far Has Likely Already Doomed Him
• Another Bad Week for Sam Bankman-Fried in His Criminal Trial
• Why These Lawyers Say It’s Over for SBF-But His Only Hail Mary Is to Testify
• SBF Trial: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Might Try and Win His Case
• SBF’s Lawyers Could Be Annoying the Judge How Might That Impact the Trial?

Links

Ethereum ‘Survives the SEC’

• Consensys announcement blog 
• Consensys’ thread
• Laura Brookover’s tweet on the investigation being closed.
• Investigation Termination Letter
• Fortune: Ethereum wins a major battle, but its war with the SEC is far from over 
• CNBC: Consensys’ head of litigation provides new details after SEC closes probe into crypto firm

Consensys lawsuit against the SEC

• Original Press Release
• Consensys V. Gensler Et. Al Complaint
• Consensys’s March 29 comment letter to SEC on proof-of-stake

Ether ETFs

• CoinDesk: Ether ETFs Should Be Fully Approved by September, Says SEC Chair Gensler

Latest on other SEC enforcement actions

• ccn.com: SEC vs Kraken: Judge “Inclined to Deny” Motion to Dismiss Case
• Uniswap Response to Wells Notice 
• CoinDesk: Coinbase Loses Most of Motion to Dismiss SEC Lawsuit, (Mar 27)

Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC.  Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our correspondents were the first media to see the American-built JLOTS pier, intended for aid deliveries into Gaza. Things have not at all gone to plan. After years of slipping, house prices are on the rise again; we ask why (16:51). And a trip to see the Savannah Bananas, a goofy exhibition-baseball team that has serious lessons for the major leagues (22:57).

Additional audio courtesy of the Savannah Bananas.

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Alabama

• Docs  reveal how much "Rachel Levine" lobbied WPATH re: transgender minors
• AG Marshall to support TN law against transgender surgeries for minors 
•  UAB to make acquisition of St. Vincent/Ascension system this coming fall
• Montgomery mayor makes two leadership appointments to fight crime in city
• Hearings this week involve 11 attorneys accused of "judge shopping" 

National

• 2 Federal judges block parts of Biden's 2nd plan to forgive student loan debt
• FL judge seems poised to reject SC Jack Smith's motion for gag order on Trump
• NYC judge modifies the gag order on Trump after trial is completed
• An Election worker is arrested in AZ for stealing fob and keys at election center
• Election officials in Fulton county seek to destroy 2020 ballots, despite lawsuit
• Court docs in 2 cases of rape/murder of women show illegal aliens unrestrained
• A Lancet study shows 73% of deaths in 325 autopsy cases were due to C19 vax