How SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Views on Crypto Have Changed Since His MIT Days

Nik De, managing editor for global policy and regulation at CoinDesk, stops by Unconfirmed to discuss the current state of crypto regulation, including recent comments by SEC Chair Gary Gensler on stablecoins and why Coinbase decided to sideline its Lend product. Highlights:

• Nik’s biggest takeaway from Gary Gensler’s interview with the Washington Post 
• why Nik thinks Gensler has escalated his rhetoric regarding stablecoins and DeFi 
• how crypto exchanges are currently regulated and how that might change
• what it would take to convince crypto exchanges to register with the SEC
• whether the SEC has the purview to regulate stablecoins
• Nik’s thoughts on Coinbase’s Lend product and the SEC’s stance on lending products
• what the overall picture of crypto lending is in the US
• whether the SEC will go after DeFi protocols
• what to expect from the SEC going forward, especially with the end of its fiscal year coming up next week

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021      

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Episode Links

Nikhilesh De

• CoinDesk articles: https://www.coindesk.com/author/nikde/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikhileshde 

Content

• Coinbase blogs regarding Lend
  • https://blog.coinbase.com/the-sec-has-told-us-it-wants-to-sue-us-over-lend-we-have-no-idea-why-a3a1b6507009 
  • https://blog.coinbase.com/sign-up-to-earn-4-apy-on-usd-coin-with-coinbase-cdad79e5f5eb

• SEC Chair Gary Gensler Washington Post Q&A
  • https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2021/09/21/transcript-path-forward-cryptocurrency-with-gary-gensler/
• Brian Armstrong tweet storm
  • https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1435439291715358721
• BlockFi and Celsius overview
  • https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/17/3-states-alabama-securities-commission-also-claims-celsius-violated-securities-laws/ 

Read my latest Medium post, “The Reason Crypto Regulation Is Turning Out to Be So Difficult,” which takes take a deeper dive into some of the topics addressed in this pod 🙂

• https://medium.com/@laurashin/the-reason-crypto-regulation-is-turning-out-to-be-so-difficult-788cc134958d