@VatnForn

The listing vote for Goons of Balatroon (GOB) @LFGoons is now LIVE! You have 72 hours to vote. https://t.co/3hy9zJbg0z

Great validation that we're building something meaningful and impactful. Looking forward to submitting a full proposal to the @NSF. #Deepwaters

It would be interesting to know how much of the recent decline in Binance's #crypto market share is due to: 1) 2022 flight to safety reversing 2) #Binance no longer perceived as safe 3) Binance realizing they're under a regulatory microscope and curtailing wash trading https://t.co/Hym2clB0vQ

Having skimmed the #SEC suit against #Binance, there isn't much new information here; most was revealed in the #CFTC suit and recent @Reuters exposé. Even so, this action is arguably the most impactful one the #crypto industry has seen. Key pieces of information in the suit: 1) Binance allowed high-value US institutional clients to use https://t.co/9FtNH4r73M (known from the prior CFTC suit) 2) Binance commingled customer funds (known from the Reuters article last month - https://t.co/YnieifDLC7) 3) Binance lied to investors about "the existence and adequacy of market surveillance and controls to detect and prevent manipulative trading" and wash trading. This is, in theory, new information, but it seems unlikely that any educated observer finds this surprising. 4) Essentially everything in crypto is a security. That this is the SEC's viewpoint is also not new information but if this gets decided in court the result could have enormous ramifications for the industry. Is crypto mostly dealing with securities? The United States District Court for DC will decide (or a higher one, if ultimately appealed). Where Binance royally screwed up was allowing US customers to trade, directly or indirectly, on https://t.co/9FtNH4r73M. That was a massive act of hubris which gave the SEC room to argue that the main Binance platform, not just https://t.co/pLEefqumap, is under the jurisdiction of the SEC. The best case scenario for the industry is most likely an out-of-court settlement which still leaves all the legal and regulatory grey areas regarding cryptoassets unresolved. Hopefully Binance does not think they can fight the good fight because their odds of winning are likely not great. The worst case scenario? A US court decides cryptoassets are, generally speaking, securities, and the SEC has jurisdiction over any platform allowing US users to access it. The very crypto-antagonistic SEC then methodically goes about taking down as many exchanges (#DEX and CEX) and #DeFi platforms which haven't excluded US users through a KYC process, as prior cases have already established that restricting access through geo-IP is insufficient. The problem many industry participants find themselves in is one where they have created unrealistic expectations which they are now obligated by their customers to meet. No DeFi project could implement KYC without a massive hit to their likelihood of ultimate success. By not doing so, however, they are potentially putting themselves under US jurisdiction by serving us persons while offering services which would generally require licensure, and also violating a number of sanctions regimes. Any sense of a fragile peace which existed the past few years between US regulators and crypto / DeFi was an illusion. It may have felt like this begrudging tolerance could go on forever since each year feels like a decade in crypto, but this is simply the timeline over which many regulators act. Even though we have taken every precaution to ensure we would not end up in its crosshairs, as a member of this industry, we do not want this to be the moment the sleeping giant has awoken.

There is no valid reason to commingle company and customer funds. It exposes customer money to potential malfeasance and increased risk, in many jurisdictions it is illegal, and it is straightforward to avoid. Yet it remains normal among #crypto #CEX. https://t.co/ukGLGyL2AB