• Regulatory tension in the crypto industry has sparked fear, doubt and uncertainty (FUD) among the crypto community.
• The SEC recently struck Kraken with a fine and halted its staking program, as well as taking enforcement action on Paxos and Binance USD stablecoin.
• Rumors have been circulating of a possible Wells Notice from the SEC to Circle for their issuance of USDC stablecoin, but these have been debunked by Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer Dante Dispaerte.
Crypto Industry Facing Regulatory Tension
The crypto community is still reeling with fear, doubt, and uncertainty (FUD) due to the latest regulatory tension in the industry since U.S. regulators have taken enforcement actions on some crypto firms.
SEC Issues Fine On Kraken and Halts Staking Program
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a fine to Kraken, an American cryptocurrency exchange, and halted its staking program. Additionally, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and SEC have taken action against Paxos – the issuer of Binance USD stablecoin – for violating anti-money laundering laws.
Rumored Wells Notice Issued To Circle
Rumors have been flowing about the possibility of enforcement action on other stablecoins and their issuers; some fingers pointed at USDC as the SEC’s latest target. However, this was rebuked by Circle Counters when they stated that they had not received any Wells Notice from the regulator regarding their management or issuance of USDC stablecoin.
Circle Debunks Rumors Of Wells Notice From The SEC
Dante Dispaerte – Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at CirclePay – responded to a journalist’s tweet stating that Circle had not received any Wells Notice from the regulator concerning USDC stable coin. Eleanor Terrett – who works for Fox News – posted that SEC had issued such notice but quickly deleted it afterwards; she then took to Twitter again to apologize for her incorrect post about Circle receiving said notice from SEC.
USDC Market Cap Rests At $41 Billion
At the time of writing, Total USDC market cap rests at $41 billion; though there were rumors about possible regulation against USDC issuer Circle being debunked by them themselves no one can be sure if regulators will act upon it or not; this caused panic sell-off amongst some crypto community members who quickly sold off all their USDC tokens fearing consequences from regulators if they held onto them too long