- Investment bank predicts a new wave of crackdown
- This time it will hit DeFi-protocols and stabelcoin issuers
- Apparently the SEC wants to reduce demand for these solutions that serve as alternatives to regulated exchanges and banks
The investment bank Berenberg published a report on the cryptocurrency climate in the United States last night, June 20. It suggests that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is unlikely to stop at CEX, and the next “victim” of the regulator will be DeFi counterparties and stabelcoin issuers.
In fact, the Commission has already tried to assert its rights to the decentralized finance sector with a proposal to correct the term “exchange”. We wrote about it here.</nbsp;
And stabelcoins, in turn, serve as the “foundation” of trading activity on the DEX, according to a Berenberg report. And, of course, this is primarily true of Tether and Circle.
SEC seeks to corral the DeFi sector to reduce demand for these protocols as an alternative to regulated exchange or banking solutions. And this can be done by cutting off the “life stream” of USDT and USDC.</nbsp;
Any regulatory action against both these tokens and the issuing companies would have devastating consequences. For example, in Q1 2023, 27% of Coinbase’s total revenue is interest on reserves in the USDC.
Bitcoin, in turn, will be positioned by the regulator as an “acceptable alternative.”. This also echoes the prediction of rising dominance of BTC. An interesting point, earlier we wrote that the USDT has lost its peg to the dollar. At the same time, Blockworks reported possible pressure on Tether by federal authorities. Wasn’t this a sign of impending disaster?