Two lawyers, Josh Klayman, head of digital assets at Linklaters, and Marc Boiron, chief legal officer at Polygon Labs, offer their takes on the SEC’s recent crypto crackdown. They share what they heard from SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Congressional testimony, whether this crackdown was inevitable or sparked by FTX, and why a proposed change to the definition of an exchange could be an existential threat for DeFi in the U.S.

Show highlights:

• what Gary Gensler’s approach to crypto was when he took office
• whether the FTX collapse had any impact at all on the SEC’s recent actions
• whether the actions against Coinbase are “inappropriate”
• what the differences between Coinbase and Kraken staking services are
• why the concept of “exemptive relief” is important for exchanges
• whether the SEC is looking to go after AMM-based decentralized exchanges
• why SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce says that complying with a new proposal wouldn’t be possible for much of DeFi
• why, according to Marc, the industry should be “pushing very hard” against the newly proposed definition of an exchange
• whether the SEC’s ability to pursue enforcement actions against ETH is diminished by the statements of the previous SEC chair

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Crypto.com
• Halborn

Guests:

• Josh Klayman, head of blockchain and digital assets at Linklaters, 
• Marc Boiron, chief legal officer at Polygon Labs.
• Sufficient Decentralization

Previous coverage of Unchained on the SEC’s actions: 

• ‘Is ETH a Security?’ Why Gary Gensler Couldn’t Give Congress a Straight Answer
• Rep. Emmer on Why He Believes Gary Gensler Is a ‘Bad-Faith Regulator’
• Is the Government Trying to Kill Off Crypto in the US?
• Coinbase’s Top Lawyer Calls SEC Wells Notice a ‘Massive Overreach’
• SEC Chair Gary Gensler Avoids Question: ‘Is Ethereum a Security?’
• SEC Sues Bittrex, Names Dash, Algorand and Other Tokens ‘Crypto Asset Securities’

Links

• CoinDesk: U.S. SEC Moves Toward DeFi Oversight as It Reopens Proposed Regulations
• Proposed rule: Amendments Regarding the Definition of “Exchange” and Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs)
• Rendering Innovation Kaput: Statement on Amending the Definition of Exchange
• POLITICO: McHenry clashes with SEC’s Gensler over crypto crackdown
• Forbes: Crypto Exchange Beaxy Shuts Down Amid SEC Charges
• Treasury Releases 2023 DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment

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