Already a subscriber?The largest digital currency, bitcoin, broke back through the $US70,000 barrier this week, as optimism about US interest rates surged and there were growing signs the crypto industry is making headway in its campaign for a lighter regulatory touch.
The SEC’s decision made it possible for mainstream investors to buy and sell bitcoin as easily as shares.more than 25 per cent in the past month following the SEC’s decision to approve the first US ETFs holding ether.Bitcoin’s price surged to a record high of just under $US74,000 in mid-March amid a flurry of excitement over the new ETFs, but its price then fell to just under $US57,000 in early May as the outlook for early interest rate cuts dimmed.
SEC head Gary Gensler has argued that cryptocurrencies should be subject to the same regulations as other assets. The new bill, however, would probably mean that much of the crypto industry would fall outside the regulator’s remit.Gensler warned that the new Republican-sponsored bill “would create new regulatory gaps and undermine decades of precedent regarding the oversight of investment contracts, putting investors and capital markets at immeasurable risk”.
Meanwhile, former US president Donald Trump is positioning himself as a champion for the crypto industry. According to the report, more than half of the war chests amassed by the crypto super PAC comes from direct corporate expenditures, primarily Coinbase and Ripple Labs.