Privacy Won Big, Trump's Nomination, and More!

This week on Unchained: How the Tornado Cash lawsuit was won, Trump’s SEC Chair pick, XRP rally, and more!

December 07, 2024

The Coinbase-funded Tornado Cash lawsuit was won, protecting the right of good actors to use open-source privacy tools. But what about the other Tornado Cash lawsuits?

Last week, the crypto world celebrated a major legal victory when a federal appeals court struck down OFAC’s sanctions on Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts in a Coinbase-funded lawsuit. While this decision is a significant win for crypto, its implications go far beyond the industry—it challenges the very limits of U.S. sanctions authority on open-source code.

In this episode, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal and VP of Legal Leah Bressack discuss the case, the reasoning behind the court’s decision, and its broader implications, especially given that other cases are still in court. They address whether they think the government will appeal, how this ruling impacts other privacy tools and the other lawsuits, and why the case is a critical precedent for the intersection of code, law, and innovation.

Plus, what does this mean for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm?

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Trump’s SEC Chair nominee is a fan of crypto and not of regulation by enforcement. But could he be hamstrung by recent permanent moves by Gary Gensler?

With the nomination of the pro-crypto Paul Atkins to be the next SEC chair, the crypto industry is potentially facing a 180 from the agency. As co-chair of the Digital Chamber’s Token Alliance initiative and a board member of Securitize, Atkins is not only pro-crypto, but also against the type of “regulation by enforcement” strategy of current Chair Gary Gensler.

In this episode, Cody Carbone, president at The Digital Chamber, explains why Atkins is likely to start reassessment of the agency’s lawsuits against crypto firms, why Trump might break with protocol to fill one of the commissioner seats that would typically be filled by a Democrat, and who he thinks might make for a good “crypto czar.”

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

The panel dives into the impact of the Treasury Secretary pick, the XRP rally, and ETH/BTC dynamics. Also, who should be Trump’s “crypto czar”?

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts James Seyffart, Noelle Acheson, and Ram Ahluwalia are joined by Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, to discuss the surprising mainstream buzz around XRP’s latest rally, dubbed the “most hated rally in crypto.”

They also analyze the new Treasury Secretary’s ambitious economic plan and what it could mean for inflation, fiscal discipline, and market stability. Meanwhile, Ethereum struggles to reclaim its narrative as the go-to blockchain, even as its ETH/BTC ratio shows signs of life.

And in a moment that captures the personal side of crypto’s rise, the team reflects on Thanksgiving table conversations, where bitcoin and digital assets became unexpected stars.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

On Unregulated:

In Case You Missed It 👀

Here are some articles you will probably want to read:

On Wednesday, Coinbase added the GIGA memecoin to its listings roadmap, causing the price to surge 50%. One of its biggest proponents has a history with fraud.

XRP, which saw its fourth ETF filing Monday, also now has the third-largest market cap among all cryptocurrencies, after it shot past Tether’s USDT and Solana’s SOL.

Governance members are currently mulling over a proposal that would change the focus of the network’s incentive programs to liquidity providers and DeFi users.

Ethereum’s growing interest among investors has driven U.S. spot ETH ETFs to a weekly all-time high in total netflows, with $752.9 million recorded.

Read the Weekly Recap!

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