Winklevoss twins donate $2 million in bitcoin to Trump campaign: CNBC Crypto World

Winklevoss twins donate $2 million in bitcoin to Trump campaign: CNBC Crypto World

today Bitcoin falls to the $63,000 level to cap off a week of losses two house lawmakers visit the binance executive detained in Nigeria and the head of litigation and investigations at consensus discusses the sec’s decision to end its investigation into the company welcome to cnbc’s crypto world I’m Jordan Smith crypto pric is in the red to end the week as of noon Eastern Bitcoin dropped more than 1 and a half% to the $63,000 level ether dipped slightly trading to just under $3,500 and salana fell more than 1% to $131 for the week crypto prices are mixed with Bitcoin down more than 2 and a half% and ether up nearly 3% as of noon salana down more than 7% for the week all right let’s talk about the top stories two US lawmakers visited the binance executive detained in Nigeria and they’re calling for his release Representatives french hill a Republican and Chrissy hulahan a Democrat visited gambaran in prison while in the country to discuss anti-terrorism efforts in a post on X yesterday Hill said that gambaran is being wrongfully detained and should be freed the congressman said gambaran is suffering from malaria and double pneumonia while being denied access to adequate medical attention in a video in the expost congressman Hill said that he asked the US Embassy to advocate for the humanitarian release of the binance exec because of quote horrible conditions in the prison his innocence and his health Hill was among the lawmakers that signed a letter to President Biden earlier this month urging him to work for garan’s release the executive has been detained in Nigeria since February facing money laundering charges due to his involvement in the crypto exchange next the winlos twins donated $2 million in Bitcoin to support Trump in the upcoming election in a post on X yesterday the founders of the crypto company Gemini said they each donated $1 million in Bitcoin to support the candidate Tyler winlos wrote that President Biden’s administration had quote openly declared war on crypto and that Trump was Pro Bitcoin Pro crypto and pro business we reached out to President Biden’s campaign for comment but didn’t hear back right away Trump has presented himself as a champion for crypto and met with Bitcoin mining Executives earlier this month including those from the publicly traded company’s Riot and cleanspark while the crypto industry is increasingly trying to influence the upcoming elections with millions in donations to crypto Focus super Pacs last a California judge ruled that a civil Securities lawsuit against the crypto company Ripple will move ahead to trial but dismissed allegations suggesting that Ripple violated Federal Securities Law by selling its token xrp the federal judge for the Northern District of California ruled yesterday that a jury will hear arguments on whether briad garlinghouse Ripple’s CEO made misleading statements in connection with the sale of Securities in a 2017 interview the judge tossed out other claims in the class action lawsuit according to court documents attorneys for ripple argued that the claim should be thrown out because xrp does not meet the definition of a security under the hoe test and therefore can’t give rise to a claim for misleading statements in connection with his Security in yesterday’s Court Document the judge said that Ripple argued that the court should follow the reasoning of Analisa Torres the federal court judge for the southern district of New York who ruled xrp did not meet all the points of the Howie test when sold to retail participants on crypto exchanges that ruling was considered a partial victory for ripple now we reached out to the firm regarding the development in California and in a statement Ripple’s Chief legal officer said that the one individual state law claimed that survived will be dealt with at trial and that nothing disturbs the ruling from Judge Torres in the SEC case now this afternoon Ripple CEO Brad garlinghouse posted on X that the fact that four out of five claims in the suit were dismissed is a quote Big Win adding that nothing in the decision negates or changes the fact that xrp is in and of itself not a security according to the New York Court decision he added that regarding any misleading statements he stands by what he said and is looking forward to shedding light on that during the trial all right for our main story this week consensus said that the SEC closed its investigation into ethereum and won’t pursue enforcement action against the company crypto world’s Talia Kaplan spoke with Laura brookover head of IT litigation and investigations at consensus about the development and whether the crypto firm still plans to pursue its lawsuit against the agency I want to discuss a big development for consensus this week in a blog post on Tuesday consensus announced that the SEC notified you that the agency is closing its investigation into ethereum 2.0 and will not pursue an enforcement action against the crypto company this development came after the wells notice consensus says it received from the SEC and the lawsuit filed by consensus a couple of months ago alleging regulatory overreach by the regulator what was your reaction to this latest development and what do you think it signifies for the industry as a whole well we were very pleased to receive the letter noting that the investigation into ethereum 2.0 had been concluded and that it was concluded without charges against consensus it’s the right result it’s the result that um we you know should have happened a year ago it’s a result that we’re try we’re trying to seek in our lawsuit so we’re very pleased um that this happened um but of course you know the fight isn’t over uh the ethereum investigation was just one of three investigations that consensus has been facing and that are the subject of our lawsuit in Texas and so what do you think this development signifies for the industry if anything at all well it’s hard to say you know the letter itself was very short it was very cliffed it said only that the investigation was concluded no charges were being brought but it even resisted um disclaimed us drawing any conclusion from it such as you know that they found that ether was a commodity and not a security so although it’s welcome that the investigation is over it doesn’t go far enough to provide the sort of transparency that the industry really needs as to why the SEC has closed this investigation and how that decision is relevant to the many other investigations and enforcement actions that are ongoing so although we’re pleased with the result it’s it’s really it just doesn’t go far enough so what happens now do you still plan to pursue your lawsuit against the SEC and if so what’s the main reason for moving forward with the Sue I know consensus sued the SEC back in April to quote defend the ethereum ecosystem according to blog posts but now that the agency is closing its investigation into ethereum do you think moving forward with this lawsuit would still be an important step for consensus and the crypto industry at large well not everything that we’ve sought in the lawsuit is redressed by this letter like I said you know there are three investigations into consensus one dealt with ethereum 2.0 or the merge um which was the transition to proof of stake and that lawsuit was really focused on the ethereum protocol itself and ether on its own you know whether ether on its own was a security as a result of the merge but there were two other investigations that we’ve dealt with and those relate have culminated in O Well’s notice um finding that uh the consensus has violated Securities laws with respect to metamask swaps and metamask staking those are very important product features for our metamask wallet software and you know one thing I want to emphas ize the metamask staking uh product feature it relates to um ether staking so services that uh that ether holders can take advantage of to stake their ether so although the investigation into ethereum 2.0 and ether on its own is concluded there are still big questions around um staking services and how the SEC views those and until we get definitive answers um and really a judicial ruling that we have not violated the Securities laws we’re going to keep fighting because we brought the lawsuit in light of this cloud of regulatory uncertainty that’s been hanging over our head for years and while this letter goes a little way in um removing that cloud it doesn’t go far enough so just to be clear you are in fact continuing with your lawsuit against the SEC yes I mean that’s we we’re still reviewing the implications of the letter but as you know know our current plans are not to change um and to continue fighting so that we can get the relief that we brought the lawsuit um to seek expanding on what you just said does this week’s development settle some of the other concerns you outlined in the lawsuit against the the suit claims the SEC has wavered on ethereum’s classification as a security do you think that is more clear now yes the the letter does give us some of what we’ve sought and I think that’s important to underline we asked the court to de Clare that the ethereum investigation was unlawful and that it could no longer proceed and that also the SEC should be barred from bringing an enforcement action against cons consensus predicated on the ethereum 2.0 investigation now the letter by saying that the SEC is closing the investigation without charges against consensus does give us some of the things that we have been seeking in the lawsuit but again we still are looking for that declaration that metamask swaps and metamask staking are not violating Securities laws and um so there’s there’s a lot still to deal with I do want to mention we’ve reached out to the SEC about this latest development and a spokesperson told us the agency does not comment on the existence or non-existence of a possible investigation but what do you think changed why do you think the SEC closed its investigation into ethereum and won’t pursue enforcement action against consensus in your blog post from this week I read that following your lawsuit several policy makers including members of Congress voiced cons concerns over the sec’s ethereum investigation do you think that played into it at all it it’s the million-dollar question what changed because um if it if the SEC has changed its policy positions which is really sort of would be the most welcome news to the industry and to consensus that would be wonderful we don’t know the SEC hasn’t told us what changed right they just sent us a letter with no explanation simply saying they concluded their investigation I have to think though that just if you look at the timing and the chronology of all this that the ethereum investigation was full bore before we brought our lawsuit and then after we brought our lawsuit there was mounting pressure from you know members of Congress from others in the industry um who previously had been unaware of this investigation you have to think that that did lead to the SEC backing down on the investigation but it would be um really useful for everyone to know what the CC’s considerations were what they concluded as a result of the investigation what facts they found what determinations were made and we haven’t heard anything like that yet brookover also discussed what she thinks about the SEC approach of Regulation by enforcement you’ll be able to check out that full interview over at cnbc.com cryptoworld all right that’s all for this week we’ll be back on Monday and we’ll see you then [Music]

CNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what’s ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today’s show, Laura Brookover, head of litigation & investigations at Consensys, provides new details after Consensys says the SEC closed its investigation into Ethereum 2.0 and the crypto firm itself.

Chapters:
00:00 – CNBC Crypto World, June 21, 2024
0:24 – Cryptocurrencies down
0:47 – The headlines
4:13 – Consensys’ Laura Brookover

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Winklevoss twins donate $2 million in bitcoin to Trump campaign: CNBC Crypto World