Happy weekend! Crypto prices are down bad after the SEC signaled it views staking as a security, but at least it’s Super Bowl weekend. For those who watch the big game, you won’t see crypto ads this year, but we already see lots of crypto tie-ins, from Reddit Super Bowl NFTs on Polygon to the NFL planning a virtual Super Bowl concert with Saweety in the Roblox metaverse. Enjoy your weekend and the game, and go… crypto!
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The SEC came down hard on Kraken on Thursday, with the crypto exchange agreeing to pay a $30 million fine for violating securities laws and end its staking service for U.S. clients. One day earlier, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong warned of increasing SEC scrutiny towards staking.
Crypto enthusiasts see it as the latest regulatory encroachment on DeFi following growing enforcement actions from SEC Chair Gary Gensler. On Friday, Gensler said that crypto firms are “choosing” not to comply with regulations, but even his own colleagues disagree.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce disputed the action, writing in a dissent that it was “not an efficient or fair way of regulating” an industry with as-yet-unclear regulatory guidance. (You can hear a lot more from Peirce in her appearance on the gm podcast in December.)
💰 Coin of the Moment
The AI drumbeat is growing louder and louder following the launch of ChatGPT and the growing battle between Google and Microsoft. Now, AI-adjacent crypto tokens are feeling the buzz too.
Over the past week, AGIX—the token of decentralized AI platform SingularityNET—has jumped 125% in price to about $0.43. Amazingly, that’s still 55% below its all-time high price from 2018. And FET from AI automation platform Fetch.ai popped 55% this week, also landing at $0.43.
Kristin Smith is Executive Director of the Blockchain Association, which advocates for crypto policy in Washington D.C.—an exhausting effort that Sam Bankman-Fried was closely involved in, until he set it all on fire. Kristin tells Dan Roberts and Stacy Elliott how SBF and FTX set things back, but there are still positive signs from crypto friendly voices in Congress.
Comedic legend Bill Murray sits down with Decrypt at his first exclusive party for NFT holders in Oceanside, California. He describes the project’s origins and why it didn’t feel “mercenary” for him to create an NFT-based membership club.
