Summary of the Article
- Rep. Maxine Waters recently criticized PayPal’s stablecoin and demanded regulation on par with financial institutions.
- The SEC is set to begin a jury trial against Ripple Labs in Q2 2024.
- Republican members of Congress have demanded information from FINRA and the SEC concerning Prometheum’s recent approval as a broker-dealer for digital assets.
Rep. Maxine Waters Criticizes PayPal’s Stablecoin
Rep. Maxine Waters recently criticized PayPal’s stablecoin, calling for more stringent regulation on par with existing financial institutions. This follows Coinbase launching their Ethereum layer-2 chain Base to the public, as well as Bitstamp halting U.S. trading of seven tokens identified as securities by the SEC in Coinbase and Binance cases. The Federal Reserve will now require state banks to get written ‘non-objection’ from central bank before engaging with any stablecoins.
SEC v. Ripple Labs Jury Trial Set for Q2 2024
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set a jury trial date against Ripple Labs for Q2 2024 to determine whether XRP should be classified as a security or not. This comes after two class action lawsuits filed against Ripple last year, alleging that XRP was sold illegally without proper registration under US securities law. The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications for other cryptocurrencies in the market currently deemed securities by US regulators such as Ether (ETH).
Republican Members Request Information From FINRA and SEC
Republican members of Congress are requesting information from both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding their approval of Prometheum Ember Capital LLC as a distinct broker-dealer for digital assets. Questions have arisen about how Prometheum managed to get approved so quickly, especially given its relative obscurity prior to 2023 when it applied for registration status.