The sec and Gary Genser are going after Ethereum, looking to classify it as a security and investigating the Ethereum foundation. And coinbase announces they are working with black Rock and Securitized for the tokenization of investment funds on the Ethereum blockchain, and fed Shair Jerome Powell for sees three rate cuts this year. What does it mean for bitcoin in the markets? We're going to break this down and much more. Let's get into it. Welcome to the Thinking Crypto Podcasts.
You're home for cryptocurrency news and interviews. If you are new here, please hit that subscribe button as well as a thumbsup button and leave a common below. If you're listening on a podcast platform such as Spotify or Apple, please leave a five star rating and review. It supports the podcast and it doesn't cost you anything. Well, folks, let's start with the price of bitcoin. Bitcoin today saw a huge bounce, huge green candle on the daily chart.
It's currently sitting at sixty seven six and eighty four dollars, and we saw the dxy started forming a red candle on the daily chart. This is what we want to see. We've been talking about it over the past couple of weeks. We want to see that DXY did Dollar Currency Index start to break downwards because we know the correlation is that is very bullish for risk assets like bitcoin, all coins, and even the stock market. So this is a good sign, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. This
needs to prove itself. We've seen fake outs in the markets before, so let it keep breaking down and I expect bitcoin and all coins to keep moving if the DXY continues downwards. But great to see that red candle forming on the daily chart for the DXY. And we got news from the Fed today. Jerome Powell spoke about what they are planning to do with the ray cuts. He foresees three ray cuts this year, but envisions fear cuts in the
future. Now, what have I been telling you guys. Potentially there's a scenario here that markets are front running the ray cuts because historically, based on data, now, when the Fed cuts rates, that means things are bad, something is breaking. And when they cut rates, we see the markets start to tank and they have a huge correction. That doesn't mean history will repeat, but the data going back for decades shows these This is the fact
that this is something we can anticipate. So my thesis in which I had put together in a newsletter, is that markets are front running these rate cuts because they know the corrections coming, and bigcoin is correlated to the stock market, and we're going to see both of them rise at the same time.
Now, the other factor I threw in there is I was expecting the rate cuts to come later in a year after the elections, because I don't think the FED wants to do anything that will affect the elections and it may show any type of favorability. Plus Biden, as you can imagine, wants the economy to look as best as possible. And the stock markets are ripping even though they're layoffs and much more going on. So it's a very unique situation.
And I have my plan at which points I'll be taking profits, and I'm sticking to that because this year is very strange. Folks. You got the elections, you got the having obviously record inflations. Rates have been going up, but the FED said they're not they're not raising rates. We're pretty
much done raising. They just have to cut. But the problem is when they cut, historically is that big correction, but then the eventually leads to cheaper capital because of lower rates, and the money printer starts, so there's gonna be that period of bottoming out from the dump that we usually see and then back to ballmarket because the money printer will be on. So this is
a very strange year. Maybe we see something new, maybe a bigcoin in the stock market, do correct at the first rate cut and it's not as bad as we anticipate, and then they turn on the money printer very soon and that keeps the momentum going. I don't know. I don't have a crystal ball, but these are things to think about, and this is why you have to look at the market holistically. So we shall have to wait and see. Now let's take a look at what are the top trending tokens
on social media. This data is brought to you by Sentiment. If you'd like to sign up for a Sentiment account link being a description, you can use the code thinking crypto to get a discount. Folks. I have a premium account and I get really great data and insights on here. I've shared some of this on the shows as well as in my newsletter. So leading the social mentions are Ethereum, which is at number one, and this is because of the big news of the SEC going after etherm or. We're going
to talk about that right after this. Coming in at number two is nifty x protocol Shroom, which is the ticker symbol for the token. At number three is Solana and at number four is Salana based mean coin slurf. Now, these all have positive sentiments, so that's something to note. Stacks, which is the stx token, also has positive sentiment. They are a smart contract layer two solution for bitcoin. Ono comes in here at number six.
You have AMP at number seven, run or thor chain at number eight, Scale Network SKL never heard of it, but it comes in at nine. And then mobile coin Wow, return of mobile coin. I haven't heard about that in a long time. Comes in at ten. So those are your top trending tokens. And like I said, eth is trending heavily here and we're going to talk about that news, folks. Here's the news. The SEC expands pushed to make Etherorem a security This is being reported by Forbes.
Crypto subpoena is sent to three well known crypto companies asking for docs, slash records about the Etherorem Foundation. Wow. Folks. This is what I've been hinting at for a long time when we've been talking about the Etherorem etf that Gary Ginser refuses to echo the statements of his predecessors, Jay Clayton and Bill Hinman even before Congress. Right Patrick McKenny Grillam is Etheroma security. He did not want to answer, and he doesn't bring up Etherorem at all, folks.
So right away you know something is up. So let me give you some details here as to what's happening. So, the Etheroereum Foundation, the Swiss nonprofit organization at the heart of the Etherorem ecosystem, is facing questions from
an unnamed state authority. According to the group's websites GitHub repository, the confidential inquiry comes during a time of Etherum's technology and at a possible inflection point for its native asset, ether which many American investment companies are seeking to offer as an exchange traded fund. The SEC has slow walked their efforts, despite recently approving a series of bitcoin ETPs. Now Fortune also mentioned that there's a straight
up campaign from Gary Genser and the SEC to make Etherorem a security. Now I tweeted out about this and it actually got some traction here. I did a roundup of all the facts around Etherorem and the things that you need to know. So first is that built Himman under J. Clayton's approval, gave a speech back in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, I believe saying Etherum is
not a security. However, he had major conflicts of interest because he was getting paid by a law from Cincin Thatcher, which was part of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. Clear conflict, right, and even the SEC's Ethics office warned him about this. We were only able to get this information because of Empower oversight and the Foyer request they did. They are currently suing the SEC again
to get additional documentation on those conflicts and communications. And obviously through the Ripple lawsuit where the Ripple legal team you know, brought in Hindman and all these things and what communications were made. And the reason why these two things are correlated is Ethan X Herpee were competing for the number two spot, so there was a battle. So clearly, you know, if you take one token over the other, you're showing favoritism, right, You're picking winners and losers.
That's not what the SEC should be doing now. The other factor is the Ethereum network switched from proof of work to proof of state, which of course changes the thesis that Hindman and Clayton based their analysis on to give ETHERM a non security classification. Not to be clear, I believe Etherrem is not a security. I believe the SEC has not provided the guidelines. This is what we've been waiting for, right Why Congress needs to act. This whole
thing is a mess. We need clarity. It is a dumpster fire, folks. And number three Gary Genser has stated refuses to echo the statements of Hindman and Clayton that Etherum is not a security. He was grilled before Congress. He doesn't want to answer. And of course I've been telling you guys that Gary's most likely going to take the Etherrem ETF situation to the courts even if he loses, because he has a lot to lose. When it comes to if he approves ethereum spots ETF, it means it's not a security.
It means it gives the open door to the other all coins and there of course are trying to block this as much as possible, and recently we had talked about it. CFDC chair Roston Benham spoke before Congress highlight the difference in the views of the CFTC and the SEC. Obviously, the CFTC views this as a commodity, and he was saying the SEC is on the fence and he's trying to work with them about that. So, I mean, you
got these two agencies battling about this. And if you saw my interview published this morning with Chris John Carlo, former CFTC chairman, and we touched on this subject of the nonsense around this, and of course Gary against and the SEC approved Prometheum's license to custody Etheroreum as a security, and I had Aaron Kaplan on the podcast for the interview. He was reiterating Gary's statements that all coins are digital asset securities. So another signal here that Gary is trying to
make everything outside of biitcoin a security. So once again Forbes is reporting that this is something that's happening. And look, the only way I see this can be stopped is Congress really needs to act. I do believe the industry will suit a hell out of the SEC and Gary gains if he continues this attack. Because of all the hypocrisy, lies and inconsistency coming out of the
SEC. The SEC caused this confusion, folks. Now. The other thing to keep in mind New York Attorney General Letitia James I believe her name is when they went after a coup coin exchange, they had listed Ethereim as a security. This was back in March of twenty twenty three, and they stated that ethere is a security because of the ICO and of course a friend of the podcast, attorney fred Rispoli, he had sued the SEC asking for clarity
on etherrem Is it a security or not? Tell us right? They responded, we haven't made a decision yet. What a dumpster fire we are dealing with here. But once again, but the record, I don't believe etherrem is a security. I believe the SEC needs to update the how we test this way. All the different tokens, whether it be xrp avalanche, h bar, algoran, etherrem, all need to go through that test. On its face, I don't think etherrem is a security given how the network has
evolved. But the problem is Bill Hinman should have gave that clarity that he put together for the entire market, right, the framework for the entire market, versus just saying ethereum specifically is not security. And that's where this whole thing started going downhill. What a mess. Now remember Gary, when he was at MIT, the videos are circulating he said Etherorem was not a security
right, so he has said this in the past. Now quite a few folks are coming out talking about this news, and of course it's big. It has huge implications. Patrick McHenry, the man who asks Gary Ginser is etherom of security. He tweeted out. The following reports indicate Gary Ginser is moving to unilaterally classify eth as a security This is contrary to the CFTC's assessment and the SEC's prior actions. Congress decides the SEC's jurisdiction and budget. Chuirgenser
doesn't get to make it up as he goes. Well, Congressman Patrick McHenry, he has been doing that. So I tweeted at him in response, and I said, Congressman McHenry, it's time to subpoena Gary and get the two crypto bills passed in the House to put the mess the set has created to an end. You got to take action. Words are not going to help here now, Brian Contents who've had on the podcast. He's a former
CFTC chairman. He worked with Chris John Carlo. In fact, he's now global head of Policy at A sixteen Z. He tweeted out a great threat here, he said, reminder, when the SEC allowed eth futures ETFs to trade on its regulated security exchanges, it explicitly acknowledged the status of the underlying
eth as being a non security and outside of its jurisdiction. Importantly, this ETF approval decision in October twenty twenty three occurred well after a theorem change to proof of steak in September of twenty twenty two, meaning that to the SEC, ETH in its present state as of October twenty twenty three was not a security. These are key facts, folks. This is why I'm saying etherorem is not a security and that Gary Genser he's gonna get sued because of Bill
Hindman's statements in the past. Plus, they approved the futures right, They went through to all these different things and approved it in the state of being proof of state. He says, if the SEC had any doubt about the regulatory treatment of in October twenty twenty three. It wouldn't have approved the ETF.
If ETH were in fact is security, then the CFDC listed futures contracts on which the ETFs were based would be illegal, as any derivative on ETH would be considered security features contracts and subject to different rules, listed on different exchanges and subject to joint SEC slash CFDC jurisdiction. See the mess the SEC has created, folks. Moreover, if Ether were a security then the Eth Futures ETF would be an illegal instrument. The SEC cannot approve an illegal instrument
to trade over a national securities exchange. It will be interesting to watch what, if any excuse the SEC uses if it were to delay or deny an ETH ETF, given it has already informed the market on ETH being outside its jurisdiction. The SEC's conduct is refusing to acknowledge these facts, is causing confusion and actively harming the public. So he's absolutely right here, Adam Cochran, I believe senior counsel at Synthetics, he said, there you go. Confirmed.
It's Gary on a phishing expedition to try and say proof of Steak is a security and all I can say is bring it on. Go on, Gary, file this kind claim. Let's have the course deciding and get precedent on the books once and for all. And while you're recovering from your ripple case, I'd encourage you to read part three of is etherorem at security dot com outlining why proof of steak isn't a security so. As I said here, folks, the industry is going to suit a hell out of Gary Ginser.
And he's I don't know what he's doing here. Maybe he has something up his sleep, but I don't think so. There's just too much history. This could be a smoke screen. Maybe he's just causing confusion to delay the Ethereum METF saying, look, we don't know, right, so it's just he's just delaying and doing whatever Elizabeth Warren wants him to do. So. Paul Grewall, chief legal officer at Coinbase, weighed in on this, saying, CI again, what the misinformation as we await a decision on ethereum
ETPs. Okay, let's talk about some basic facts about Etheroreum. Millions of Americans hold eth it has been vital to crypto since it's twenty fifteen launch, and ETH is a commodity, not a security. The SEC has taken this position for years now. He gives some great examples here, he said,
first senior SEC officials like Bill Hinman. Although I wouldn't want to use this as an example given his conflicts, he said an example too, or Exhibit B. Before he was SEC Chair, Gary Ginster himself testified before Congress that ETH is not a security see his tech testimony Exhibit C, And even very recently, the SEC's trial lawyers continue to compare ETH to bitcoin. So he continues to provide additional items talking about the CFDC, the futures, and so
forth. So Gary's gonna have problems. But once again, this could be a smoke screen, just to delay the ETF to say we don't know what we're doing now. Miles Jennings of A sixteen Z tweeted the following. He said, recent events have changed my mind about working with former SEC crypto enforcement lawyers. Anyone still working in that division is complicit in the ongoing abuses of power. Debt Box won't be the last example. We won't work with law
firms that one day hire these people. Wow. So the people who are working with scumbag regulator Gary Genser. They're going to have a hard time working with folks in the industry and other industries moving forward and an age of social media and with the web with media, their names are going to get tarnished. And this is probably why we're seeing a lot of turnover the SEC. People don't want to be involved in this nonsense. But folks, what a
mess right and ethereum. You know. I don't know what Gary's up to, but I hope that there's no epic collapse because it would be very detrimental to the market. I tweeted about this. This could turn into a massive Category five tornado that is going to ruin a lot of government officials, the SEC theorem and so forth because of all the things that happen going back to Bill Hinman and then Gary's hypocrisy and lies. It's just snowballing into this massive
disaster. So we're gonna have to wait and see. This could be once again a smoke screen that Gary's using just to delay the etherom ETF That quick word from our sponsor and that is uphold a great platform that you can buy bitcoin in all the top all coins. You can also trade precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium, and platinum. Uphold has proof of reserves. They don't call mingle or lend out your funds. I've been using this
platform since twenty eighteen. If you'd like to learn more about Uphold, check out the link in the description. Alri folks, yesterday we talked about the news of black Rock tokenizing an investment fund on the Ethereum blockchain, and they're working with securitizes, which is helping people to tokenize everything and anything on the
blockchain. Well, Coinbase, they tweeted out today, we are excited to announce that Coinbase has been chosen as a key infrastructure provider for Blackrock and securitize tokenized investment fund. This partnership reflects our commitment to connecting institutions to crypto and demonstrates our ability to provide the necessary technology and products to support the rapidly growing tokenization sector. So this comes as no surprise because coinbase has already been working
with black Rock for institutional custody and trading. This was news that came out. You know what was that late last year? I believe it was, and you know, for the ETF launches and so forth. And this is a powerhouse coming together, right, coin based, black Rock and Securitized to do tokenization, and as Larry Fink has been saying for a while, tokenization is the future of finance. They are moving all in and they are doing
it on the Etherorem blockchain. So what an interesting dynamic, right, black Rock wants the etherem metf. They have the bigcoin ETF. They're tokenizing on Etherorem and Gary Genser is trying to say Etherorem is a security now and trying to block the ethere metf investigating the Etheroreum Foundation. You can't make this stuff up now. Another fact that one user here on Twitter x found by the name of Summer's Things, and he provided the link to the CFDC government website.
Apparently Coin Based Derivatives LLC quietly filed certifications with the CFDC to list US regulated features for dogecoin, like coin and bitcoin cash. I get dogecoin because you know there's people that are going to trade it, but light coin and bitcoin cash. This feels like a twenty seventeen lineup, right, But maybe this is just the starting point. We'll see what they decide to do. Summer says they follow them on March seventh, and surprisingly nobody seemed to notice.
Features are set to start trading on April first, if there are no objections from the CFTC. So that's interesting. I'm surprised they didn't haven't included XRP given, but maybe they're like, hey, look the lawsuit is still going on with Ripple, so it's too risky to try to do stuff like that. But they already relisted it for trading, so I don't know. And then look, they bought light coin on here a bitcoin cash, So whoever came up with this decision or idea, they didn't really think this through.
Maybe I don't know, it just seems strange now. Fetchair Jerome Powell just to add some context of things he said today, And if you haven't seen once again my interview with Chris John Carlo today, please check it out. We talk about fet chair Jerome Powell's recent comments about the digital dollar is nowhere closed to being developer or live, and Jerome Powell doubled down on that.
Here's some codes reported by Eleanor terrator Fox Business Fetcher. Jome Powell addressed CBDCs today saying I haven't at all, in my own mind, made a decision that the US needs a central bank digital currency. He also said the FED is a long long way from proposing as CBDC, and it's wrong to say the FED is working on a CBDC. Now, I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night. And I you know, we've seen lies and smoke and mirrors. So could he be telling the truth?
Sure? Could he be lying through his teeth? Absolutely right. We've seen this from different government officials. They could absolutely be working and piloting different things. And in fact, you know Chris John Carlo of the Digital Dollar Project, he's talked about different conversations they've had with the FED, piloting and so forth. So I don't know if I believe that this is wrong to say the FED is working on a CBDC. I think they've already started the conversation
and maybe piloting stuff. They may not have something that's production or ready to go or even flushed out. But something smells fishy here. My gut tells me he smokescreening a bit here, but we'll have to wait and see. Nevertheless, the future is digital many countries are building CBDCs and digital currencies in the US. We'll have to find a solution, whether that's stable coins at CBDC or whatever. In order to remain competitive and keep the dollar as the
world reserve currency. They're going to have to start working on one. And look, it has to be aligned to the Constitution to maintain our rights. Now, folks, a friendly reminder, I will be in Washington, d C. For the DC Blockchain Summit twenty twenty four. This is being put together by the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Perie and Boring and friends, and I will be there for the summit day as well as the education Day.
Now, if you don't want to attend the summit day, it is a bit more expensive, you can attend the education day and I'll be there for both. We'll love to meet up with you. And we're gonna be meeting with different representatives, members of Congress, regulators and so forth. And there's
gonna be some great speakers who are gonna be there. Members of Congress like Mike Flood, Senator Christin Gillibrand, Kaitlyn Long, Cynthia Lummis, Hester Purse, Patrick McHenry, Fred Thiel, and many other great speakers guys, So once again I would love to see you all in person. I'll be there and we'll certainly be doing some coverage and podcasting as well. So once again we'd like to attend. Check out the Lincoln and description. You can get
a discount by using the code thinking Crypto. And once again, you don't have to attend for both days. You can come to the summit and the Education Day, or just the Education Day if you want. So looking forward to seeing some of you there. Thank you for watching and listening. Don't forget to subscribe. Hit the five star in the podcast platforms, sign up for my free email newsletter linked to description, follow me in all social platforms
as well. We'll thank you, guys, and I'll talk to you all later