If the SEC wants to appeal last week’s judgment in the Ripple case, it better act fast. So says Bill Hughes, regulatory chief at Ethereum booster ConsenSys and one of the many crypto policy pros assessing the ramifications of U.S. district judge Analisa Torres’ decision. The regulatory agency’s decision to appeal hinges on a number of factors, Hughes says, including that this Supreme Court will likely be unkind to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s interpretation of how to regulate crypto. But of course, a political calculus is also in play, and suddenly U.S. lawmakers have a slew of crypto bills and amendments to choose from. How will it play out?

Show highlights:

• whether the SEC is going to appeal the recent Ripple ruling and whether Judge Analisa Torres would allow it
• what the risks are for the SEC of taking the case to the Second Circuit
• why Bill believes that the SEC’s chances are not good at the Supreme Court
• what the motivation is behind the new DeFi bill in the U.S. Senate
• how that bill would impact the different stakeholders in a DeFi project
• why the crypto community should put its focus on the stablecoin and market structure bills first, according to Bill
• how the SEC has been dropping lawsuits days prior to Congressional debates about crypto

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Crypto.com
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• Ondo Finance
• Arbitrum Foundation

Guest

• Bill Hughes, senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters at ConsenSys.

Links

• Previous coverage of Unchained on the Ripple case: 
• Why the SEC vs. Ripple Order Is Now About 2 Things: Coinbase and Congress 
• New Order in SEC vs. Ripple Over XRP Is a Win for Crypto: What Happens Now?
• The Chopping Block: Should XRP Holders Really Be Rejoicing?
• The SEC's Lawsuit Against Ripple and 2 Execs: What You Need to Know 
• Ripple's XRP: Why Its Chances of Success Are Low
• CoinDesk: Ripple's Legal Win Means It's Time for Crypto to Stand Up to the SEC
• Unchained: 
• U.S. Senate Bill Calls for Strict KYC and AML Regulations for DeFi
• SEC vs Ripple: Judge Rules XRP Sold on Exchanges Is Not a Security
• Bill’s thread on the Lummis-Gillibrand amendment
• S.Amdt.712 to S.2226 - 118th Congress (2023-2024)

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