Washington’s battle to rein in crypto has a new front: stablecoins.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether stablecoins, cryptocurrencies that maintain a price of $1, are among the products that were issued in violation of investor-protection laws. SEC enforcement lawyers have told Paxos Trust Co. that regulators plan to take enforcement action over its stablecoin, BUSD, although that decision isn’t final.
An SEC lawsuit over BUSD, the third-largest stablecoin by market value, would be a significant jolt to an industry that has suffered a series of shocks in recent weeks. After the failure of crypto exchange FTX, the SEC has already cut off the ability of some crypto middlemen to offer lending services that give crypto investors a way to earn interest by lending out their tokens.
Source: Stablecoins Attract Scrutiny in SEC’s Drive to Control Crypto – WSJ
