Coinbase Sues its Own Regulator, Demands "Regulatory Clarity" from SEC

Crypto Exchange Coinbase Asks for Court to Force SEC Response to 2022 Rulemaking Petition

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) has asked a federal court to force the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to respond to a petition it filed last year asking for formal rulemaking within the digital assets sector.

Coinbase filed an Administrative Procedure Act challenge against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, asking the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to order the SEC to provide “regulatory clarity” around how existing securities laws might apply to the digital asset sector.

Failed Bank Execs Dodge Pay Clawbacks as Tougher Remedies Sought

Last year, Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker was paid nearly $10 million in total compensation while Signature Bank CEO Joe DePaolo received $8.6 million in total compensation.

Their wallets, for now, are safe.

The bank bosses fell through the cracks of federal rules for retracting executive pay, say some Washington officials who are pushing for changes. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Securities and Exchange Commission both have clawback authorities going back to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act—enacted after the 2008 financial crisis—and through even earlier laws. But the agencies are unable to easily rescind pay from Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank leaders using their existing powers, which have no clear consequences for the banks’ managers.

‘Crypto is dead in America,’ says tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya

Tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya, who said two years ago that bitcoin has replaced gold and predicted the digital currency would climb to $200,000, has a much more cautious view on cryptocurrencies these days.

“Crypto is dead in America,” Palihapitiya said in the latest episode of the All-In podcast.

Palihapitiya blamed crypto’s demise largely on regulators, who have gotten much more aggressive in their pursuit of bad actors in the industry. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has said crypto trading platforms should abide by strict U.S. securities laws.

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“You had Gensler even blaming the banking crisis on crypto,” Palihapitiya said. “The United States authorities have firmly pointed their guns at crypto.”

Terra Co-Founder Shin, Nine Others Indicted by South KoreaSouth Korea indicted Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin along with nine others on multiple charges including violations of capital markets law related to the Terra cryptocurrency project, which imploded last year.

Prosecutors froze 246.8 billion won ($184.7 million) in assets from the people so far, Dan Sung Han, the head prosecutor who leads the financial crime investigation department, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Officials indicted eight people including Shin for illegal trading and two additional individuals for breach of trust. Those charged are all directly linked to Terra, including in marketing, systems development and management, prosecutors said.

Celsius, Voyager Creditors Battle Bankruptcy Bureaucracy

A certain breed of retail investors piled their money into crypto for its anti-establishment qualities. Avoiding big banks or hidebound regulators sweetened the taste of uncanny returns. Crypto firms stoked that sentiment, pulling in investor money by promising a world of “unparalleled economic freedom,” as Celsius Network put it, or to make “crypto for all” a reality, in the words of Voyager Digital.

But now millions of crypto fans—and their money—find themselves trapped in a different kind of reality. Companies they trusted with their cryptocurrency have failed, and their assets are stuck in bankruptcy court, one of the most establishment and bureaucratic institutions in America. How much money the investors lose will be set by judges enforcing complex rules written long before the first crypto coin was minted.

Guest Post: Underwriting Risk and Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment in U.S. Private Equity

Institutional investors have been aggressively seeking out opportunities to direct and co-invest in recent years to have more control of private equity (PE) transactions and bypass hefty fees charged by commingled PE funds. These funds have a similar fee structure to that of hedge funds, typically consisting of a management fee (generally 2%) and a performance fee (usually 20%. Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) have not only sought out this control, but in the past year have surpassed US institutional investors in executing on this strategy.

All of this activity begs the question, are there unique regulatory and professional liability exposures to PE firms that partner with SWFs?

Succession

I have occasionally tried to understand the capital structure, valuation, corporate governance and shareholder base of Waystar Royco, the Roy family’s publicly traded conglomerate on the TV show Succession, but I quickly find myself frustrated by some contradiction that doesn’t make much sense, and then I remind myself that it’s a TV show and nobody cares about the absolute verisimilitude of its corporate bits. (Who is on the Waystar Royco board? Why are there no independent directors? Who cares!) Anyway at FT Alphaville last week Louis Ashworth gave it a go; he got farther than I ever have but he gave up too, and my advice is that it isn’t worth it.Source: Bed Bath Moves Into the Beyond – Bloomberg