The Blockchain Association held a policy summit where they had key speakers from the Treasury, members of Congress and regulators in the United States.
And some of the topics that were discussed during the event include the regulatory scrutiny in the US and the importance of collaboration between industry leaders and policymakers on blockchain policies.
Read: US House Financial Services Committee Announces Plans For Crypto Legislation
About The Blockchain Association Policy Summit
The Blockchain Association’s Policy Summit 2023 was an exclusive members-only event on November 28-29, 2023 in Washington, D.C. And it brought together policymakers, regulators and industry leaders to discuss the developments in blockchain policy.
And this was an opportunity for them to gather and deliberate about the latest happenings in crypto and help increase awareness on blockchain for the development of sound and effective blockchain regulations.
Read: US Senator: Crypto Fleeing Due to Regulatory Uncertainty
US Representative Ritchie Torres
Democrat Congressman Ritchie Torres was a Speaker at the summit and he participated in a Policymaker Fireside Chat with Marta Belcher, President and Chair of the Filecoin Foundation and Blockchain Association Board Member.
Torres also highlighted the following regarding digital assets legislation, “In my view, the courts cannot provide you with the kind of comprehensive regulatory framework that you would need – only a statute can. But the courts can prompt legislative action. If either the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court were to uphold the decision in the Ripple case, then that could create a powerful incentive for Congress to step in and to legislate a regulatory framework. But there needs to be a judicial rejection of The Gensler Doctrine in order to prompt Congress to act legislatively -that’s my assessment of where the politics lies at the moment.”
So the SEC could obviously appeal the Ripple case — that case is still ongoing and is not wrapped up yet, but the majority of it is concluded. The lawsuit against Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen has also been dropped, and XRP being declared intrinsically not a security.
Now, I do not think the SEC has legs to stand on here. They may try or there may be a settlement, we do not know for sure — we will have to wait and see.
Read: US Lawmakers Propose Cutting SEC Chair’s Salary To $1, Citing Crypto Prohibition
Coinbase vs. The SEC
And that is also why the Coinbase victory over the SEC is also going to be crucial because Coinbase is a publicly traded company — it lists XRP and a ton of other altcoins which are being sued indirectly because of these exchange lawsuits. So Coinbase winning would be a big disaster for the SEC and Congress would definitely be forced to step in.
Narratives Are Changing
Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty weighed in on the following, “Today’s Wall Street Journal: “The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled against the SEC in recent years.” The SEC is anything but infallible; it is bloated, broken and beleaguered. Don’t be intimidated when they come knocking.”
Final Thoughts
See how the narratives are changing? The mainstream media is picking up on the losses and weaknesses. This is why we have to go for the jugular — you got to share the facts and go the extra mile because the US SEC is in a very weak spot right now.
The crypto community is hoping for Coinbase to win in that lawsuit. That would be pretty epic, especially for altcoins, right? Because they are trying to say Coinbase is selling securities and they name out Cardano and Algorand and so forth, while Gary Gensler, was once promoting Algorand.