This Week on Crypto Twitter: SEC Dragnet Drags On

By Tim Hakki

Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

Crypto prices flatlined this week as the battle between U.S. regulators and the blockchain industry dragged on with no substantive developments. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler once more insisted that his agency is ready to help crypto companies register, even though none have been able to so far. 

Both Gensler and the SEC’s lawyers continued advancing the agency’s position that existing securities laws form clear enough guidelines for the industry, but opponents—including SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce—argue that those rules aren’t clear at all. 

On Monday, the SEC responded to Coinbase’s petition for a writ of mandamus—an order that would require the regulator to clarify its rules on crypto regulations. Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, wrote up his thoughts on the SEC’s response in a thread on Tuesday. 

Last week, the SEC relieved blockchain file sharing platform LBRY of a $44 million debt, leaving it only $111,614 left to pay. LBRY took to Twitter to say that, while the debt relief was welcome, the industry should not think for a moment that the SEC is going soft. 

Meanwhile, outside of the SEC drama, Hollywood’s Justine Bateman on Monday warned her colleagues from the Screen Actors Guild about how she thinks their jobs will be affected by A.I. technology. 

Semi-retired derivatives trader @gainzy222 tweeted some toxic behavior from Adam Tate. 

On Tuesday, developer @vydamo_ wrote a thread cautioning everybody about the unprofessional and abusive behavior of a certain memecoin creator.

The following day, blockchain sleuth Amir Ormu outed crypto influencer BitBoy for having quickly dumped tokens that he promised he wouldn’t. 

Lawyers are getting blockchain-savvy now, according to a Thursday tweet by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT.

For at least one NFT trader this week, the decision to use bots was an expensive mistake. 

Bitcoin-maxi Alex Krüger was bullish about A.I. on Thursday. 

Republican and crypto-friendly lawmaker Tom Emmer tweeted about a new bill he introduced on Thursday that appears to do some of Gary Gensler’s work for him. 

Finally, IRL counterparts to the Pudgy Penguin NFT craze have been selling like hot cakes. 

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