23 March 2023: SEC issues official warning to crypto investors

[pawel7777]

"Exercise Caution with Crypto Asset Securities: Investor Alert"

https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/exercise-caution-crypto-asset-securities-investor-alert

TLDR:  The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy continues to urge investors to be cautious if considering an investment involving crypto asset securities.  Investments in crypto asset securities can be exceptionally volatile and speculative, and the platforms where investors buy, sell, borrow, or lend these securities may lack important protections for investors.  The risk of loss for individual investors who participate in transactions involving crypto assets, including crypto asset securities, remains significant.  The only money you should put at risk with any speculative investment is money you can afford to lose entirely.

This whole statement sounds innocent and, in a sense, as pretty good and sensible advice to investors, but is probably an indication of future actions relating to US crypto crack-down.
Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

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[Ever-young]

"Exercise Caution with Crypto Asset Securities: Investor Alert"
Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

The entire market is likely surviving on stable coin like the USD most especially. Let me say for instance if the US government succeed on killing the Pegged United dollar ( Tether) which is the major pairs on the entire crypto market. There will definitely be a break and a shock on the entire market which even if the market survive it, won't be an easy one.

[lionheart78]

This kind of announcement is not new.  I think every now and then SEC gives a warning to crypto investors especially when the cryptocurrency market is getting bullish.  Now that they have CBDC I believe SEC will be more aggressive in their propaganda to discredit the cryptocurrency industry, especially these stablecoins to kill competition and will possibly promote or suggest CBDC as a better replacement.

I believe once the preparation for CBDC is complete (study, laws, regulation. technology), SEC will launch more thorough propaganda that can defame cryptocurrency and promote CBDC.

[Hispo]

Spot on. This not about securing the assets of those who believe in decentralized money, like Bitcoin, but rather we are witnessing the beginning of a more aggressive campaign against one of the most important parts of the market: the stable coin liquidity.

The SEC and the government of the United States are not stupid, there are aware that in order to exercise the surveillance and control they seek with their incoming CBDCs, they may need to kill the competitors through legal means.

Also, for whatever reason it seems the governor of Florida (De Santis) and Ted Cruz are using the lack of trust towards digital banknotes to boost his (unannounced) presidential bid and career in the chamber. Let us see if other states follow this lead, assuming this is not just hot air from the governor and the representative.

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz Proposes Ban on a CBDC

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/03/22/gop-senator-ted-cruz-proposes-legislation-to-block-cbdc/

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a bill on Tuesday aimed at blocking the Federal Reserve from creating a consumer-based central bank digital currency, or CBDC.
"The federal government has no authority to unilaterally establish a central bank currency," Cruz said in a press release. "This bill goes a long way in making sure big government doesn’t attempt to centralize or control cryptocurrency and instead, allows it to thrive in the United States."

[MoonOfLife]

What I see is that the SEC is increasingly persecuting us from all sides and they have no intention of hiding their intentions. They are pinching us and trying to control us, nothing more, nothing less. Regulation is inevitable, but I don't pay much attention to this rubbish news. There are ways to bypass the government if it wants to collect taxes and control us more.

[pooya87]

Like always this statement is 100% correct about altcoins (crypto) and 100% wrong about bitcoin.

In any case the US and consequently dollar hegemony is threatened as dedollarisation is spreading across the globe and USD gets weaker and the SEC is afraid that more people are going to choose bitcoin as an escape from the sinking ship called dollar. Hence they try to discourage at least some of the people who are fleeing...

Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

That is a possibility too although US is already too late to the CBDC nonsense game and I don't see how that could be able to compete with the existing CBDCs while dollar itself is being abandoned.

[Dave1]

What I see is that the SEC is increasingly persecuting us from all sides and they have no intention of hiding their intentions. They are pinching us and trying to control us, nothing more, nothing less. Regulation is inevitable, but I don't pay much attention to this rubbish news. There are ways to bypass the government if it wants to collect taxes and control us more.

This is not new though, I mean since 2017, since the bubble that we have going to $20k, per pop, they started to show their aggressiveness towards crypto, not bitcoin per se, but stable coins and other altcoins for that matter. True, regulation is imminent, but now we should know that, but it's not a threat to bitcoin. Maybe some other projects that could be a treat to them. They even take a crusade against privacy coins already and not might be looking at those stable coins and others. Tether used to be the target since 2018, but maybe they know it's hard to bring them down.

[hugeblack]

I am inclined towards mikeywith's point of view, which he had mentioned in a post cant remember   .
In short, the war started by the SEC aims to end any link between digital currencies and banking systems, and thus drain them of liquidity sources that come from stablecoin or from guaranteeing depositors’ funds in dollars, and thus keep these currencies hostage to supply and demand in the peer-to-peer trading markets, which makes them more vulnerable to price fluctuations and less in value. growth and expansion.

it is the time when the free money will end, and therefore 99% of cryptocurrencies will not survive, and hence this warning makes sense.
It remains for Bitcoin to either succeed and thus increase the market capacity to more than a trillion dollars, including the beginning of a real organization as a new financial party, or the fluctuation that will drive many investors out of the market.

[mv1986]

"Exercise Caution with Crypto Asset Securities: Investor Alert"
Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

The entire market is likely surviving on stable coin like the USD most especially. Let me say for instance if the US government succeed on killing the Pegged United dollar ( Tether) which is the major pairs on the entire crypto market. There will definitely be a break and a shock on the entire market which even if the market survive it, won't be an easy one.

Whenever a first or second iteration of a technology that makes sense and is useful gets killed, rest assured a third iteration will come. We might not be there yet that there is an algorithmic stable coin we can fully fall back on, but if governments decide to kill stable coins backed by their own treasury bonds, the only way out will be a decentralized solution and I wonder if that is a solution the government would like more than a stable coin they actually have control over?

I doubt that they will kill stable coins. But I am sure that they will shove regulation down the providers' throats. But not too hard, step by step such that a provider has more reason to comply than to deny.

[buwaytress]

They might be better off putting that warning at the next Superbowl, really. Or on any crypto ad airing then or anywhere else. Think people will have their guard up if a friend whispers crypto in their ear but it's when Tom Brady and Matt Damon splashes coins in their face that they need to have their spider sense up...

[adaseb]

I think the reason they issues this is because back in late 2021, many worried about inflation so they bought stocks and crypto. And they obviously would of been better off staying in cash if they held till now.

So now they are saying this because they don’t want people to invest in Bitcoin as a safe haven compared to a bank account. Because people see posts like “BTC to $1M in 90 days” and they borrow money and buy crypto and then end up being a bag holder.

[jossiel]

SEC is actually right to that about tip of investing only what anyone can afford to lose. Maybe they're foreseeing something like we'll be back in the bull run and the essence of it is for those sudden companies that will come out offering investments to people like HYIP, fake crowdfunding and of the same.

They understand how bitcoin is doing and performing and that's why it's an indirect hit to it and most likely, this is also for bunch of altcoins where people are following every single meme coin, trending altcoin and what not.

[retreat]

-snip-
Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

This is something I'm quite worried about because if the government feels that they have done all kinds of ways to discredit cryptocurrency and it doesn't work, they will turn to manipulating the crypto market, whether it's by going after stablecoin providers or making negative news which it will have a negative impact on the crypto price. The point is how the government makes the crypto market a volatile market, untrusted and makes many people not interested in investing in this market.

[Lucius]

There is nothing strange or worrying in that statement, because similar statements could be read in the past from many central banks and similar institutions. On the one hand, it's smart to warn people what they're getting into so they don't knock on the wrong door later when things go downhill, but on the other hand, let everyone decide what they want to invest their money in, as long as it is something legal.

However, what can be interesting about this statement is the moment in which it was made public - and the data for March 2023 say that in this month alone, about $286 billion of deposits were withdrawn from banks, and a good part of that money went to institutions like Fidelity, JPM or Goldman Sachs. Given that some of them also have links to cryptocurrencies (especially Fidelity), we should not be surprised that such statements are being released right now.

On the other side of the big pond, similar warnings could be heard in the past.

Cryptocurrencies “have no intrinsic value” and people who invest in them should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said. Bailey, who was formerly the chief executive of the FCA, has long been a skeptic of crypto. In 2017, he warned: “If you want to invest in bitcoin, be prepared to lose all your money.”

Source

[bittraffic]

-snip-
Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

This is something I'm quite worried about because if the government feels that they have done all kinds of ways to discredit cryptocurrency and it doesn't work, they will turn to manipulating the crypto market, whether it's by going after stablecoin providers or making negative news which it will have a negative impact on the crypto price. The point is how the government makes the crypto market a volatile market, untrusted and makes many people not interested in investing in this market.

CBDC is coming. Although there are officials trying to stop it, it's going to roll as planned and SEC sending messages like this one is just one example of how they are going to make CBDC reliable money while crypto is not. They are excluding BTC so Bitcoin is good.

On the other side of the fence, dollarization is happening in every corner of the world and it's not picked up by the media so there is something big that is coming and stablecoin might really be broken as well.

[adaseb]

Now today we got CTFC suing Binanace. It seems this is not going to end soon. If you read the lawsuit, most likely it means that Binance US is dead and most likely it will be impossible to use any US banks to transfer USD into and out of the Binance exchange.

Remember how a few months ago Binance had issues with US fiat deposits/withdraws? They denied any rumors of this lawsuit and now here it is. This is proof that this investigation was ongoing for a few months and the hint was the bank getting rid of Binance.

BNB down -5% so far.

[mv1986]

-snip-
Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

This is something I'm quite worried about because if the government feels that they have done all kinds of ways to discredit cryptocurrency and it doesn't work, they will turn to manipulating the crypto market, whether it's by going after stablecoin providers or making negative news which it will have a negative impact on the crypto price. The point is how the government makes the crypto market a volatile market, untrusted and makes many people not interested in investing in this market.

CBDC is coming. Although there are officials trying to stop it, it's going to roll as planned and SEC sending messages like this one is just one example of how they are going to make CBDC reliable money while crypto is not. They are excluding BTC so Bitcoin is good.

On the other side of the fence, dollarization is happening in every corner of the world and it's not picked up by the media so there is something big that is coming and stablecoin might really be broken as well.

Some of the stable coin providers backed their stable coins with long-term treasury bonds, but isn't that what ultimately led to some banks to collapse as well now because those bonds lose in value as interest rates rise and when liquidity is needed, they need to sell it at a loss? Essentially, these exchanges or organizations offering those stable coins are making the same mistakes as banks. Their balance sheets must be faulty as well and carry assets that need to be devalued, but then their promise that every stable coin dollar is sufficiently backed doesn't hold true anymore.

[_BlackStar]

It seems true, this statement is not something new, in fact every day we echo the same thing to anyone who wants to invest in bitcoin or altcoin. But underneath all that, I think they're hatching a plan to be able to prevent some people from entering the crypto space especially into bitcoin after the bank crash. This is a classic plan that may have been the first step to prevent many billionaires from turning to bitcoin, but sadly it cannot be prevented completely.

[pawel7777]

This kind of announcement is not new.  I think every now and then SEC gives a warning to crypto investors especially when the cryptocurrency market is getting bullish.  Now that they have CBDC I believe SEC will be more aggressive in their propaganda to discredit the cryptocurrency industry, especially these stablecoins to kill competition and will possibly promote or suggest CBDC as a better replacement.

I believe once the preparation for CBDC is complete (study, laws, regulation. technology), SEC will launch more thorough propaganda that can defame cryptocurrency and promote CBDC.

Yup. I see their statement as "don't say we didn't warn you" kind of thing when they crack down on crypto even harder and might singlehandedly cause a crypto-market collapse (off course to protect the investors from losses lol).

They've already attacked Coinbase and Paxos for issuing BUSD (with a help of NYDFS). Still failing to clearly define what the "security" is and how can they possibly view some stablecoins as securities if they offer no promises of profits.

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz Proposes Ban on a CBDC

Good to hear. But I fear it's just a publicity stunt with no chance of getting passed. Hope I'm wrong.

Now today we got CTFC suing Binanace. It seems this is not going to end soon. If you read the lawsuit, most likely it means that Binance US is dead and most likely it will be impossible to use any US banks to transfer USD into and out of the Binance exchange.

It's hard not to notice that Binance is particularly targeted by US authorities. The rumour is Binance has a secret support of Chinese government, and as such, US will do anything not to allow them to get any dominant position in the crypto market in the US.
 

[tabas]

Now today we got CTFC suing Binanace. It seems this is not going to end soon. If you read the lawsuit, most likely it means that Binance US is dead and most likely it will be impossible to use any US banks to transfer USD into and out of the Binance exchange.

That's much likely of it. They'll chase any company that have been in the hot seat if it's for the US. And with that, it's what the other countries could do if they don't have such a lovely and friendly approach with crypto. Well then, this has been seen years ago and many of them don't really like bitcoin. But just to see them neutral is already more than enough that there's no such worries but with such statement from SEC itself, it looks scary and providing FUD to every possible guy that shows interest in investing on crypto.