The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Kraken—America’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume—with offering an unregistered security last Thursday. As part of a settlement, Kraken agreed to immediately cease offering interest-bearing “staking” services to U.S.-based customers and pay a $30 million fine.
But one SEC commissioner, Hester M. Peirce, published a forceful dissent, calling the SEC’s action “paternalistic and lazy” and questioning “whether SEC registration would have been possible” given the murky framework the agency offers.
Join Peirce and Reason‘s Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller for a live discussion of the regulatory threats to cryptocurrency this Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. Watch and leave questions and comments on the YouTube video above or on Reason‘s Facebook page.
This week’s Reason livestream is produced by Adam Sullivan.
Show notes:
SEC press release on Kraken enforcement action Â
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s dissentÂ
CNBC: “SEC commissioner Peirce publicly rebukes her agency, Gensler on crypto regulation.” Â
SEC Commissioner Gary Gensler on crypto staking
CNBC: “SEC’s Gary Gensler on Kraken staking settlement: Other crypto platforms should take note of this“
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell responds to SEC head Gary GenslerÂ
FTX Meltdown and the Future of Crypto. Live With Kraken’s Jesse PowellÂ
“Operation Choke Point 2.0 is Underway, and Crypto is in its Crosshairs,” by Nic Carter in Pirate Wires
