Last week was Paris Blockchain Week, and the epicenter of the conversation on crypto policy and regulation moved to the French capital accordingly. Cointelegraph conducted a series of interviews with some of the crypto industry captains who reported extensively from the field and shared their thoughts on the state of regulatory issues. For one thing, Binance’s Changpeng Zhao says he’s excited to see regulators embrace financial innovation and introduce crypto-friendly policies, calling it a major trend in 2022. Bertrand Perez, Chief Operating Officer of the Web3 Foundation, tends to act too fast against cryptographic regulations in the European Union without first being properly educated on the subject. Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse has filled the Blockchain Week crowd with the latest developments in the company’s legal battle against the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This has certainly seen some upturns for Ripple’s XRP publishers.
Ripple rejoices when the judge frustrates the SEC
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse looked happy in Paris. He told an audience at Paris Blockchain Week that the court battle with Ripple’s SEC “was much better than I expected when it started about 15 months ago.” The source of Garlinghouse’s delight was Judge Sarah Netburn’s decision on a speech-related document in 2018, when William Hinman was director of the SEC’s corporate finance department. Mr Hinman said at the time that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) were not securities. During the Ripple trial, the SEC argued that the speech reflected Hinman’s personal views and not the agency’s policies. The agency then argued that Hinman’s speech reflected Ripple’s policy and not Hinman’s personal view. The judge wrote: [the speech] Reflecting Hinman’s personal view, the SEC is currently unable to deny its position. What the SEC can do is appeal the decision within two weeks.
Coin Center opposes the SEC redefining what an exchange is
The lobbying group’s Coin Center said it supported freedom of speech in a written comment on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposal to change the rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC suggested that “systems that provide non-corporate transaction profits and the use of communication protocols should be included.” The Coin Center said the change in rules would change the definition of an agency’s exchange from a system for grouping orders to a system for grouping buyers and sellers. This affects developers and others who trade code rather than tokens, especially decentralized exchange (DEX) developers. According to advocates, it’s a matter of free speech. This was not the first time that allegations of violation of the First Amendment were leveled against the authorities. The SEC said the change “can reduce regulatory disparities between similar markets.”
Brazil advances cryptography, CBDC pilot
Recently, the Brazilian corner of Crypto Bath is also a happy place. A bill regulating the Brazilian crypto market will be approved by the National Assembly earlier this year. After being debated in the Vice Council since 2015, the bill has been approved and a version of the approved Senate bill and its integration is in place. The bill allows the President of Brazil to delegate cryptographic regulations to existing institutions or to establish new ones. In addition, the bill anticipates penalties for crypto service fraud and creates incentives for crypto miners to come to the country. That’s not all. The Governor of the Central Bank of Brazil has confirmed that the Central Bank’s digital currency pilot project will begin this year. The pilot’s Digital Real is a fixed supply and is fixed to the Reserve Remittance System (STR) of the national fiat money system.
