Crypto regulation must go through Congress for lasting change — Wiley Nickel  

John Reed Stark, the former director of the Office of Internet Enforcement at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), pushed back against the idea of regulatory reform at the first SEC crypto roundtable.The former regulator said the Securities Act of 1933 and 1934 should not be changed to accommodate digital assets and urged that digital assets do not escape the definition of securities under the current laws.The first-ever SEC crypto roundtable. Source: SEC“The people buying crypto are not collectors. We all know that they are investors, and the mission of the SEC is to protect investors,” Stark said. The former official added:”The volume of case law has developed so quickly because of all these crypto firms. They went for this sort of delay, delay, delay, idea, and they hired the best law firms in the world, and these law firms all fought the SEC with incredible briefs.”“I have read every single one of them. And they lost just about, I would argue, every single time,” he continued. Stark concluded that he saw no innovation in digital assets or cryptocurrencies compared to previous online revolutions, such as the debut of the iPhone.John Reed Stark, pictured on the far right, arguing against comprehensive regulatory reform. Source: SECRelated: SEC’s deadline extension is a ‘fork’ in case against Coinbase — John Reed StarkJohn Reed Stark: one of crypto’s staunchest criticsStark has been one of the most vocal opponents of cryptocurrencies and the digital asset industry, often criticizing the industry for a lack of transparency and accountability.In February 2024, the former SEC official characterized a sponsorship deal between the Dallas Mavericks — a National Basketball Association (NBA) team — and crypto firm Voyager as an agreement with a “heroin manufacturing firm.”Stark later said that the government agency’s regulation by enforcement under former chairman Gary Gensler was warranted and added that cryptocurrency must conform to existing laws rather than the law evolving to embrace the future of money.Stark’s anti-crypto stance has been criticized by industry executives and investors as unhinged. In June 2023, notable investor Mark Cuban called out Reed’s views as “crypto derangement syndrome.”Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

The government of Nigeria is still open to crypto businesses operating in the country despite the ongoing lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance and the high-profile detention of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan.Nigerian Information Minister Mohammed Idris told Semafor that many crypto businesses operate inside the country that are not facing litigation or criminal prosecution.“This is part of the effort to strengthen our laws, not to cripple anybody. We are ensuring that no one comes and operates without regulation,” Idris told the outlet.Nigeria filed an $81.5 billion lawsuit against Binance in February, claiming the exchange crashed Nigeria’s local currency, the naira, and said that Binance owed $2 billion in back taxes as the Nigerian government continues to grapple with sensible crypto policy.The naira M2 money supply has been rapidly increasing since March 2024. Source: Trading EconomicsRelated: Nigeria’s crypto future: Striking a balance between innovation and regulationNigerian regulations don’t give crypto investors hopeThe Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission overhauled its crypto regulations in December 2024, tightening laws around crypto marketing and advertising.More specifically, the updated law requires digital asset providers operating in the country to obtain permission before third-party marketing firms can run advertisements on behalf of the firms.In February, Nigerian regulators also announced a plan to tax crypto transactions for revenue generation.According to Chainalysis “2024 Global Adoption Index” report, Nigeria ranks second globally for crypto adoption, while India claimed the top spot.Nigeria ranks second globally for crypto adoption. Source: ChainalysisChainalysis also found that the African country received $59 billion in cryptocurrencies between July 2023 and June 2024.Despite these impressive figures, taxing crypto transactions may not bring in the revenue desired by the Nigerian government.Nigeria leads African countries in terms of cryptocurrency value received. Source: Chainalysis Coin Bureau founder and market analyst Nic Puckrin said Nigeria has a robust over-the-counter market for retail crypto trading, which evades centralized exchanges and is difficult to track or tax.Puckrin added that importers use crypto to circumvent the high volatility of the Nigerian naira and escape foreign exchange risk.The rapidly depreciating value of the fiat currency makes it unlikely that the importers will stop using crypto, and these importers will be hard-pressed to report their crypto transactions, which can be conducted peer-to-peer, to the Nigerian government.Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

Crypto investors rejoiced this week after the US Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed one of the crypto industry’s most controversial lawsuits — one that resulted in an over four-year legal battle with Ripple Labs.In another significant regulatory development, Solana-based futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have debuted in the US, a move that may signal the approval of spot Solana (SOL) ETFs as the “next logical step” for lawmakers.SEC’s XRP reversal a “victory for the industry”: Ripple CEOThe SEC’s dismissal of its years-long lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP Ledger blockchain network, is a “victory for the industry,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York.On March 19, Garlinghouse revealed that the SEC would dismiss its legal action against Ripple, ending four years of litigation against the blockchain developer for an alleged $1.3-billion unregistered securities offering in 2020.“It feels like a victory for the industry and the beginning of a new chapter,” Garlinghouse said on March 19 at the Summit, which Cointelegraph attended. Ripple’s CEO said the SEC is dropping its case against the blockchain developer. Source: Brad GarlinghouseContinue readingSolana futures ETF to grow institutional adoption, despite limited inflowsThe crypto industry is set to debut the first SOL futures ETF, a significant development that may pave the way for the first spot SOL ETF as the “next logical step” for crypto-based trading products, according to industry watchers.Volatility Shares is launching two SOL futures ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.Volatility Shares Solana ETF SEC filing. Source: SECThe debut of the first SOL futures ETF may bring significant new institutional adoption for the SOL token, according to Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research.The analyst told Cointelegraph: “The launch of the first Solana ETFs in the US could significantly boost Solana’s market position by increasing demand and liquidity for SOL, potentially narrowing the gap with Ethereum’s market cap.”The Solana ETF will grow institutional adoption by “offering a regulated investment vehicle, attracting billions in capital and reinforcing Solana’s competitiveness against Ethereum,” said Lee, adding that “Ethereum’s entrenched ecosystem remains a formidable barrier.”Continue readingPump.fun launches own DEX, drops RaydiumPump.fun has launched its own decentralized exchange (DEX) called PumpSwap, potentially displacing Raydium as the primary trading venue for Solana-based memecoins. Starting on March 20, memecoins that successfully bootstrap liquidity, or “bond,” on Pump.fun will migrate directly to PumpSwap, Pump.fun said in an X post. Previously, bonded Pump.fun tokens migrated to Raydium, which emerged as Solana’s most popular DEX, largely thanks to memecoin trading activity. According to Pump.fun, PumpSwap “functions similarly to Raydium V4 and Uniswap V2” and is designed “to create the most frictionless environment for trading coins.”“Migrations were a major point of friction – they slow a coin’s momentum and introduce needless complexity for new users,” Pump.fun said.“Now, migrations happen instantly and for free.”Raydium’s trading volumes surged in 2024, largely due to memecoins. Source: DefiLlamaContinue readingBybit: 89% of stolen $1.4B crypto still traceable post-hackThe lion’s share of the hacked Bybit funds is still traceable after the historic cybertheft, with blockchain investigators continuing their efforts to freeze and recover the funds.The crypto industry was rocked by the largest hack in history on Feb. 21 when Bybit lost over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and other digital assets.Blockchain security firms, including Arkham Intelligence, have identified North Korea’s Lazarus Group as the likely culprit behind the Bybit exploit as the attackers continue swapping the funds in an effort to make them untraceable.Despite the Lazarus Group’s efforts, over 88% of the stolen $1.4 billion remains traceable, according to Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange Bybit.The CEO wrote in a March 20 X post:“Total hacked funds of USD 1.4bn around 500k ETH. 88.87% remain traceable, 7.59% have gone dark, 3.54% have been frozen.”“86.29% (440,091 ETH, ~$1.23B) have been converted into 12,836 BTC across 9,117 wallets (Average 1.41 BTC each),” said the CEO, adding that the funds were mainly funneled through Bitcoin (BTC) mixers, including Wasbi, CryptoMixer, Railgun and Tornado Cash.Source: Ben ZhouThe CEO’s update comes nearly a month after the exchange was hacked. It took the Lazarus Group 10 days to move 100% of the stolen funds through the decentralized crosschain protocol THORChain, Cointelegraph reported on March 4.Continue readingLibra, Melania creator’s “Wolf of Wall Street” memecoin crashes 99%The creator of the Libra token has launched another memecoin with some of the same concerning onchain patterns that pointed to significant insider trading activity ahead of the coin’s 99% collapse.Hayden Davis, co-creator of the Official Melania Meme (MELANIA) and Libra tokens, has launched a new Solana-based memecoin with an over 80% insider supply.Davis launched the Wolf (WOLF) memecoin on March 8, banking on rumors of Jordan Belfort, known as the Wolf of Wall Street, launching his own token.The token reached a peak $42 million market cap. However, 82% of WOLF’s supply was bundled under the same entity, according to a March 15 X post by Bubblemaps, which wrote:“The bubble map revealed something strange — $WOLF had the same pattern as $HOOD, a token launched by Hayden Davis. Was he behind this one too?”Source: BubblemapsThe blockchain analytics platform revealed transfers across 17 different addresses, stemming back to the address “OxcEAe,” owned by Davis.“He funded these wallets months before $LIBRA and $WOLF launched, moving money through 17 addresses and 2 chains,” Bubblemaps added.Source: BubblemapsThe Wolf memecoin lost over 99% of its value within two days, from the peak $42.9 million market capitalization on March 8 to just $570,000 by March 16, Dexscreener data shows.Continue readingDeFi market overviewAccording to Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView data, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.Of the top 100, the BNB Chain-native Four (FORM) token rose over 110% as the week’s biggest gainer, followed by PancakeSwap’s CAKE (CAKE) token, up over 48% on the weekly chart.Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlamaThanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.