Has America Killed Crypto?

Plus, Australia is killing bank checks.

Number of the Week: 61% (explanation below)

Has America Killed Crypto?

It’s been a hell of a week for American legal enforcement—and we aren’t even going to talk about the 45th president. 2023 has been the busiest year in the history of US crypto regulation, and this was the busiest week of the busiest year. On back-to-back days, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) went after two of the world’s most important crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. This wasn’t exactly a surprise, since the government has been sending stern signals to both companies for months, if not years. Indeed, Coinbase stock ended the week at about the same price, suggesting that the market had already priced in a major government smackdown. Nonetheless, the price of some of the more popular crypto coins took a substantial hit, apparently in reaction to the SEC actions. And the complaints gave more ammunition to those who argue that the US government is intent on shutting down crypto trading within its borders (we’ll address this further down).