Brussels Bifurcates

We’re making today’s post free for all readers on Substack, to give you an idea of what you’re missing through the week… happy reading!

A few weeks back in a tantrum which would have embarrassed an over-sugared teen, the crypto bros were all heading to Yurrop ‘cos they had passed MiCA and that was paradise. We urged caution as the EU has a great history of saying one thing and doing another - Thus rapidly even the EuroParl started worrying that maybe the kids weren’t infallible after all and thus we’re at that stage where the regs are being written which may differ a lot from the rose tinted perception of MiCA as first passed.

Anyway, the ultimate bifurcation took place on Friday when in Brussels there is one (perceived) EU policy but at the national Belgian level, the regulators said “nah” to Binance: Binance Ordered To Cease All Crypto Services In Belgium (Bitcoin.com News): “Binance has been ordered by Belgium's regulator to cease providing any crypto exchange and custody wallet services in the country.” Markets Regulator Belgium Binance Suspend Crypto Services. The Bitcoinist article goes on to note “In the most recent development, Belgium has joined the ranks of countries taking decisive action against Binance.”

At least Binance.US resumes withdrawals… - Cointelegraph… but it’s a short-term window: Binance.US Solves USD Withdrawal Issues But Warns It Won’t Last Long (Cointelegraph).

I have previously noted that the legal heft is so huge nowadays that this deep wallet battle is the biggest risk the comparatively resource limited regulators have at their disposal. ICYMI, Binance Hires Former Justice Department Prosecutor In SEC Fight is the latest such recruitment notes Bloomberg.

Binance Holdings Ltd. has hired M. Kendall Day, a former white-collar prosecutor at the Department of Justice to represent the firm in the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit, according to a court filing.

Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Coinbase In Arbitration Clash (Fox Business) sounds positive for Bri-Arm Inc but when you realize it’s just allowing a delay in a horde of rampaging customers from suing, I am not sure that helps the public perception of Coinbase. Presuming Reddit is still a thing given recent strikes, I doubt it’s full of favourable messages about Coinbase, delay or no delay, from this group at least.

Then again Coinbase Loses Market Share In Ether Staking As Regulatory Pressure Mounts (CoinDesk) points to the underlying issues for COIN’s expensive brokerage, er, exchange, model.

Finally in Coin news: Brian Armstrong Envisions Coinbase To Eventually Become A 'Super-App' is a headline from CoinDesk, I can’t comment further.

FTX Sues Ex-Clinton Aide's Investment Firm For $700 Million notes Reuters as the liquidator seeks the return of some $700 million lavished by SBF last year.

Finally in SBF news, Bankman-Fried Loses Bid For Documents From Former FTX Law Firm (Devdiscourse).

OKX Crypto Exchange To Be Operational In Dubai Within The Year, Says Executive (Yahoo Finance) is about the best news of the day although I suppose the SAR would say this is great: Hong Kong's 'One Country, Two Systems' Policy Boosts Virtual Asset Ecosystem (BeInCrypto) although I have my doubts.

Three Arrows Co-Founders Are Back With A New VC Fund. Is Anyone Buying? Asks Yahoo Finance while also talking about OPNX which was established by Kyle Davies along with his business partner Su Zhu recently only for the claimed shareholders to disown it…

Totally obvious statement but the crypto kiddies are still bewildered having been all too often born of a mindset from the rapacious casino world of retail leveraged FX: BitMEX CEO Suggests Crypto Exchanges Should Eliminate Internal Market Makers – Here's Why (Crypto News).

Then we get to the New York Post whose pogrom against the SEC Chairman is heading off the rails in some ways qv: SEC Boss Gary Gensler Faces Ethics Scrutiny Over Sam Bankman-Fried Sitdown. Again, stick to your knitting NYP where GG is off beam - the profound attempt to change the scope of the SEC to become a political ESG watchdog is abjectly wrong and contrary to the beauty of the original enabling acts. However, in trying to say there was some ghastly pact with SBF because GG had a call with him on March 23rd. 2022 strikes me as nuts. (Fair enough - it does not in his diary:  Chair Gary Gensler Public Calendar March 1, 2022 To March 31, 2022 - but there was a meeting March 29th with the then recently invested in IEX attending. However, let’s remember mad March 2022, this call took place just after FIA Boca 2022 - 15-17 March where Walt’s crew had been fawning over SBF, Chairman Behnam appeared to be his ultimate fanboy at CFTC (in a competitive field, in those days the other Commissioners appeared to be in their max moon at Mark Wetjen phase). Thus picking on Gensler, who actually didn’t ever endorse FTX suicide pacts masquerading as plans for better clearing (sic) etc is just dumb and the NY Post is itself suffering Gensler Derangement Syndrome.

Mark Lurie has the right Cointelegraph headline: Crypto Enthusiasts Are Wrong To Target Gary Gensler noting “The animus of the entire crypto world is focused on Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler.” He posits the US laws are wrong but the EU laws are right…correct on the first bit, good luck on the second.

Then Forbes points out the reason why politicians can be such a waste of time: Republicans Don't Really Think They Can Fire Gensler, But They Can Make His Life Difficult - pity again the GOP dudes can’t target Gensler where he is actually wrong as opposed to crypto where he is trying to help.

…However, Europe is the future it seems thanks to MICA, oh wait…Crypto Traders Are Betting On Asia As A Haven After US Crackdown (Bloomberg).

From our sister publication, EI Weekend:

In response to reader’s queries, we have added a book of the week column to the EI weekend edition - You can sign up for EI Weekend for free at ExchangeInvest.com incidentally.

We’re choosing interesting books pertaining to exchanges and markets, investment et al.

This week’s book was written by our IPO-VID guest 036 & 043, Cryptodad Christopher Giancarlo.

An insider's account of the rise of digital money and cryptocurrencies. 

CryptoDad is Giancarlo's own personal story, detailing his forays into the world of Wall Street to his tenure as the 13th Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where he pushed for the agency to recognize the digitization of markets.

CryptoDad argues that the next digital wave will be the coming Internet of Value, where cryptocurrencies will do what the Internet of Information did to immaterial things: make them accessible, distributable, and movable instantly across the globe. 

Get the book here.

Suggestions welcome if you would like to nominate a book for us to cover!

Our next Book of the week will be unveiled Saturday in the EI Weekend Edition.

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