Only time will tell if this transformation to a more mature, mainstream post-FTX era for crypto is wishful thinking or not. There are signs it won’t occur without friction. PayPal Holdings Inc.’s plan to develop a stablecoin was swiftly met with an SEC subpoena. Coinbase Global Inc. is mired in an almost-existential fight with the SEC, which sued the largest US exchange in June for allegedly failing to register with the agency as a broker, an exchange or a clearing firm.
Any hopes that lawmakers in the US will pass bills to provide much-needed legal clarity to the crypto industry are slim, given the dysfunction on display in Congress. Even if that happens, there isn’t a long list of examples of governments preventing financial asset bubbles or the painful busts that inevitably follow. For better or worse, that’s a job typically done by the market itself—and on its own timeline, including the $2 trillion crypto wipeout last year that destroyed Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire.
Source: Sam Bankman-Fried Has Fallen. Long Live Crypto? – Bloomberg
