Edition No. 32

Sen. Warren's new bill; Charges levied against SBF; CFTC v. Ooki DAO; LBRY loss implications for XRP; and FTX's canary, and more. Here's what happened from 12/13/2022 - 12/19/2022.

Around the Blockchain News

Christopher Foreman

, and

Tamara Szulc

Dec 19, 2022

Welcome back to Around the Blockchain, the weekly letter dedicated to keeping readers like you up to date on the fast-paced world of Crypto & Law by airdropping current stories directly to your browser.

1. On the Docket (Top Stories of the Week)

2. Podcasts, Videos, & Blogs (The faces, voices, and pens of Web3’s brightest contributors)

3. The Voices of Women in Crypto

4. Bird Watching (Tweet, tweet!)

5. The Public Ledger (Featuring an additional 20 links on FTX this week)

6. Closing Statements

White House under clear sky at night — Photo by Darren Halstead on Unsplash

On the Docket

Five things you might have missed last week:

1. Elizabeth Warren Introduces a New Digital Asset Bill

Okay, Grandma, let’s get you to bed.

Elizabeth Warren has been one of the most prominent critics of cryptocurrencies, often focusing on consumer protection and money laundering while dismissing any benefits of the technology entirely. Despite her apparent refusals to understand the community and technology from any perspective other than that of an infringement on legacy finance, on December 14th she introduced the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, which she claims is focused on mitigating the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The bill would take several drastic steps requiring various digital asset services to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), along with other actions, like forbidding financial institutions from interacting with mixer services.

Perhaps most controversial, Warren’s legislation would force block validators and “unhosted” wallet providers to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a money service business (MSB).

Compliance with MSB regulation is costly, requiring designating a compliance officer, and implementing “Know Your Customer” (KYC) policies.

Moreover labeling unhosted wallet providers as MSBs represents drastic shift from FinCEN’s 2019 guidance, stating unhosted wallets are not MSBs.

Many in the industry are skeptical of the bill’s new designations.. In particular, Warren’s reasoning for designating unhosted wallet providers MSBs is unclear–especially considering the custodial relationship was largely FinCEN’s 2019 reasoning for defining hosted wallets MSBs.

This measure is in essence a significant expansion of compliance requirements on various digital asset services and block validators.

Warren has often been criticized by individuals and organizations in the digital asset space because of her negative rhetoric and numerous aggressive regulatory recommendations, and this legislation isn’t likely to bring any such advocates to her side.

Neeraj Agrawal offers his take on the proposed bill here:

Neeraj K. Agrawal @NeerajKA

the new warren bill is a disaster. it would do nothing to prevent the next ftx.

coincenter.orgThe Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act is an opportunistic, unconstitutional assault on cryptocurrency self custody, developers, and n…Nothing about the bill would prevent the next FTX. In fact, it puts users at more risk.

By: Nick Corso

2. Sam Bankman-Fried Charged by US With Fraud Over FTX Collapse

Charges have arrived:

In the aftermath of the catastrophic fall of his cryptocurrency empire, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been accused of eight felony charges, including conspiracy and wire fraud, for allegedly misusing billions of dollars in customer funds.

A federal court judge in Manhattan unsealed the indictment Tuesday morning, following weeks of speculation the 30-year-old would be arrested after his company, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, declared bankruptcy last month.

The indictment alleges that Bankman-Fried conspired with others "to defraud customers of FTX.com by misappropriating those customers’ deposits and using those deposits to pay expenses and debts of Alameda Research.”

Bankman-Fried was arrested by police in the Bahamas on Monday evening, mere hours before he was scheduled to testify before the US Congress regarding FTX's demise. Tuesday morning, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed separate lawsuits against Bankman-Fried for his role in the collapse of FTX.

According to Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark S. Cohen:

“Mr. Bankman-Fried is reviewing the charges with his legal team and considering all of his legal options.”

3. Federal judge orders CFTC to serve Ooki DAO founders

Just when they thought they were free:

As part of an ongoing case against Ooki DAO, a federal judge directed the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to serve decentralized trading platform bZeroX's founders, Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner.

bZeroX is the precursor to Ooki DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization.

The action follows Bean and Kistner's September settlement on charges with the CFTC related bZeroX's commodity sales. Due to their ownership of Ooki DAO tokens and the CFTC's indictment of Ooki DAO token holders, they will be served with the complaint.

According to District Judge William Orrick:

“It seems clear in this case that Ooki DAO has actual notice of the litigation…but to provide the best practicable notice, the CFTC should serve at least one identifiable Token Holder if that is possible.”

How to properly serve a lawsuit against a decentralized organization has been a fundamental issue in this case. Initially, the CFTC delivered legal service to DAO users through the chat box of the DAO. However, this was met with intense pushback from crypto attorneys who did not represent the DAO and contended that this did not constitute due process. The CFTC is attempting to claim that it has directly served two members of an unincorporated group by serving two token holders.

4. Ripple case will not be affected by LBRY loss, says Crypto Law founder

Good news for XRP?

John Deaton, an American attorney who founded Crypto Law, explained why the LBRY loss to the SEC will not affect the outcome of the ongoing Ripple vs. SEC litigation.

See the full thread here:

John E Deaton @JohnEDeaton1

IS RIPPLE GOING TO LOSE BECAUSE @LBRYcom LOST? I predicted if LBRY lost 2 things would happen: 1) the SEC would rush the decision to Judge Torres acting as if the Supreme Court ruled; and 2) people would come out of the shadows and claim Ripple & XRP will share the same fate.

Deaton stated that Ripple presented compelling arguments and had a good case supported by evidence to ultimately prevail in their case.

Although the regulator launched the Ripple and LBRY lawsuits under identical titles, the lawyer said that they were distinct because Ripple's case was in its "second circuit." In contrast, LBRY never questioned the enterprise aspect in its case, although Ripple did.

In contrast to the LBRY case, Ripple has submitted copies of XRP user testimonials to its arguments, therefore a comparison between the two cases is largely irrelevant.

5. Reports Suggest Caroline Ellison Is Working With Feds and Snitching on FTX Co-Founder Bankman-Fried

Like a Canary in the morning:

Caroline Ellison, the former chief executive officer of Alameda Research, has been the subject of a considerable deal of speculation from crypto enthusiasts and the media. After FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) embarked on a publicity tour that included appearances on Good Morning America and the New York Times' Dealbook event. Then, more than a month after the collapse of FTX, SBF was detained in The Bahamas, indicted by a federal grand jury in New York City, charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and sued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In the meantime, Ellison has remained silent. The public was informed on Wednesday that FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame reportedly turned on SBF on November 9, two days prior to FTX filing for bankruptcy. According to reports, Salame disclosed to Bahamian authorities that SBF transferred customer monies to Alameda Research. The only known fact regarding Ellison is that she is purportedly currently represented by Former SEC Enforcement Division Chief Stephanie Avakian and the WilmerHale legal team. Since SBF's imprisonment, there have been rumors that Ellison has also betrayed SBF.

“It is possible Bankman-Fried’s publicity tour, in which he repeatedly disclaimed either knowledge of — or responsibility for — mishandling or theft of customer assets, spurred senior officers to fear that he would specifically blame them.”

It’s appearing more and more likely that someone is singing before SBF has the chance to do so.

Podcasts, Videos, and Blogs

The brightest voices & sharpest pens:

Voices of Women in Crypto

By: Tamara Szulc & Nicole Prada

The Voices of Women in crypto is back! This week, we sat down with Renatta Fairbanks, a financial controller and crypto enthusiast. To read our full discussion, please follow the link HERE.

Bird Watching

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet!

Representative Tom Emmer doubles down on his Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act:

Tom Emmer @RepTomEmmer

Probably a good time to re-up my bipartisan Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. The bill asserts that blockchain entities that never custody consumer funds are not money transmitters… providing necessary legal certainty to ensure the future of crypto reflects American values.

Kevin O’Leary makes some wild accusations:

Watcher.Guru @WatcherGuru

JUST IN: Kevin O’Leary testifies at Senate hearing and says #Binance intentionally put FTX out of business.

ATBC favorite @BirdnalsLAW notes some promising developments in the CFTC complaint against SBF:

Birdnals @BirdnalsLAW

One interesting tidbit from the CFTC Complaint against SBF: despite concern over a CFTC backtrack on its prior position, it appears to hold strong on its claim that ETH (as well at BTC) is a commodity.

The Public Ledger

Highlights from the hundreds of sources gathered each week by our research AI. Always DYOR - but in case you don’t have time, here’s some of ours:

General News and Opinion

U.S. - Federal

U.S. - State Law

International

*NOTE: For your convenience, we have started identifying articles that require a subscription or site registration (paid or free) with ** preceding the article link, and the linked site in () after.*

Closing Statements

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If you didn’t enjoy it, let us know why! We value the opinion of our readers above all else. After all, this letter is for you. - Kyler, Chris, and the Around the Blockchain News team.

Quote of the Week:

“He is no lawyer who cannot take two sides.” Charles Lamb

The articles and opinions in this newsletter are not legal or financial advice. For legal and financial guidance, please consult a qualified attorney or financial advisor.

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