🎯 A squared Circle
French stablecoin approval ushers in new era for Euro digital currency
Circle’s e-money license in France paves the way to EU compliance.
Robinhood is considering offering crypto futures.
Polymarket becomes the talk of the US presidential election.
💥 Coinbase and Binance vs. the SEC.
Meanwhile, the SEC is suing yet another crypto firm.
Waves crash, baby, don't look back.
Major milestone
Liberté, Egalité, Stabilité: The CEO at Circle hailed the company’s success in gaining an e-money license in France as a “major milestone,” meaning customers across the EU can now directly access the USDC and EURC stablecoins via Circle Mint France.
Circle was granted its license by France’s financial regulator, Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution, or ACPR.
It now becomes the first global stablecoin issuer to achieve MiCA, or Markets in Crypto-Assets, compliance.
The MiCA ruling passed last year and is the world’s first comprehensive law specifically governing how crypto companies should operate.
Having a moment: Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, posted on X that the move was a “moment in the evolution and adoption of digital currency.” He added that France was proving itself to be “at the forefront of establishing clear regulations around crypto and digital assets.”
He noted Circle had “worked intensively” with French, EU and US prudential regulators to clarify how a global stablecoin such as USDC can be issued out of both the US and Europe, while maintaining complete fungibility on blockchain networks.
He added that, effective immediately, Circle is now issuing and redeeming USDC and EURC directly with major institutions in the European market via Circle Mint France.
“This includes exchanges, market makers, brokerages, consumer wallets, fintechs and payment institutions, banks and large enterprises.”
Nouvelle vague: Allaire said he believed there would now be a series of announcements from the entire global digital asset ecosystem “who are adopting USDC and EURC as the preferred regulated stablecoins on their platforms and services” due to Circle being the only global issuer that is able to provide these stablecoins in a fully compliant manner.
“The world’s leading, regulated digital dollar, USDC, is now available in the EU, and we hope and expect it will become the leading dollar stablecoin in the region,” Allaire added.
More than that, he suggested the news also “portends a much broader market structure shift that we believe is going to accelerate over the next year.”
A night to remember: One such move would be the “almost certain growth and adoption” of Euro stablecoins. “By establishing a clear rulebook for the issuance and operations of Euro digital currency, these new laws will foster a highly competitive market for Euro digital currency,” he added.
He said Circle was already seeing “significant and accelerating interest” in EURC from major enterprises, financial institutions, payments firms and others.
July 1 will be “remembered as a major moment in the development of this new internet financial system.”
“It marks the end of the beginning stages of digital assets, and the start of the mainstream growth and adoption phase.”
Instant reaction: Decentralized gambling platform DeGaming welcomed the news on LinkedIn, suggesting the regulatory change “supports its vision” of enabling seamless crypto-currency transactions and “fully immersive casino experiences.”
“The future of digital currency in gambling looks promising,” the post added.
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Loose change
Ether ETF approval has been delayed until at least next week after the SEC requested issuers submit revised filings by July 8. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, said the “process resumes” after the July 4 holiday “and soon after that, they’ll launch.” Separately, last week ETF provider VanEck filed with the SEC for a spot Solana ETF.
It’s a risk: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has upped the risk level for crypto exchange platforms in a tweak to the country’s counter-terrorism financing regulations. Crypto exchange platforms have been elevated from medium-low to medium-high risk.
Cross-border online payments remain high risk, the MAS said, given their potential for abuse by terrorist groups.
According to Singapore’s Money Laundering National Risk Assessment, digital token providers carry serious money laundering risks and vulnerabilities.
No place to hide: The US Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have issued final regulations requiring custodial brokers to report sales and exchanges of digital assets, including cryptocurrency.
The requirements aim to help taxpayers file accurate tax returns with respect to digital asset transactions, which are already subject to tax under current law, the IRS said.
Robinhood considers crypto futures
I can see clearly now: The financial trading firm is considering offering cryptocurrency futures in the US and Europe in the coming months, according to a report in Bloomberg. The company is planning to leverage recent acquisition Bitstamp’s licensees to offer perpetual futures for Bitcoin and other tokens in Europe.
Recall, Robinhood bought Bitstamp for $200m in cash in early June.
Bloomberg noted demand for futures has increased since the approval of US Bitcoin ETFs at the start of the year.
Robinhood’s shares fell slightly on the day, down 1.5% but they are up nearly 82% YTD.
🔥In ’Hood we trust
Pretty Poly
Choppy Harris: Blockchain-based prediction market provider Polymarket has become the talk of the US election, after its market on Joe Biden pulling out of the presidential race broke through to the mainstream media following the President’s disastrous debate performance last week.
Yesterday, the company posted on X that VP Kamala Harris’ odds on being the Democratic nominee tripled within the course of the day.
Meanwhile, it posted “something is brewing” overnight as the market for Biden dropping out moved to 60%. However, that has dropped back to 40% this morning.
A further sign of Polymarket’s success in becoming the de facto prediction source for the presidential election came when Donald Trump himself posted the company’s odds on the winner on Truth Social.
💥 Coinbase and Binance vs. the SEC
That’s not right: The two leading cryptocurrency exchanges are taking the fight to the regulator. Last week, Coinbase suggested a recent court ruling in its favor dismissing SEC claims that secondary market transactions in the BNB token on Binance's platform were investment contracts highlighted the inconsistencies of the SEC’s case.
I surrender, baby, help me understand: Meanwhile, in response to last Friday’s news that the SEC’s case against Binance was set to go ahead, Binance.US posted on X that it was “unfortunate that we, like many companies in our industry, have fallen victim to the SEC’s regulation by enforcement approach and politically motivated overreach under its current leadership.”
It added that “notably, the SEC has yet to identify any evidence of wrongdoing” on the part of Binance.
“We remain confident in our position that the SEC’s case is unsupported by the facts or the law,” the statement added.
SEC sues Consensys
Runaround, sue: The SEC is suing yet another crypto firm. This time blockchain wallet provider Consensys is in the crosshairs, for allegedly marketing and selling securities as an unregistered broker. The case echoes similar actions against exchanges Coinbase and Kraken.
Consensys is a software developer, whose MetaMask product is a digital wallet that allows users to hold and move cryptocurrencies, as well as stake Ethereum for a yield.
Enforcement officials claim the business raked in more than $250m in fees illegally via MetaMask.
I knew you were waiting for me: In April, the regulator served the firm with a Wells notice, a formal indication ahead of legal action. Prior to the filing, Consensys preemptively sued the SEC, demanding regulatory clarity over the argument of whether Ethereum should be classed as a security.
Last month, the SEC dropped the case and it has not named Ethereum as one of the unregistered securities offered by Consensys.
The SEC alleges that Consensys breached securities laws by allowing the “swapping” of crypto assets through MetaMask, as well as offering staking services, taking the role of an unregistered broker in both scenarios.
Consensys railed against the move, claiming the SEC has been “pursuing an anti-crypto agenda,” adding it was “just the latest example of its regulatory overreach.”
Collapsed crypto bank settles
No silver lining: The owner of collapsed crypto lender Silvergate Bank has agreed to pay regulators $63m to end a series of probes into its compliance failings. The bank was one of four lenders that went under in 2023, and the agreement is the first federal enforcement case stemming from that group of failures.
Silvergate’s transaction monitoring compliance controls were weak, with money laundering a major risk, the Federal Reserve said.
Swimming naked: Most of the California-based banks clients were in the cryptocurrency space and, following the collapse of FTX and extreme turbulence in the market, announced in March 2023 that it was closing down and liquidating all assets.
Silvergate Capital will pay $20m to the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and $43m to the Fed.
Events calendar
Jul 25-27: Bitcoin 2024, Nashville
Aug 7: Robinhood Q2s
Aug 13-14: Blockchain Futurist Conference, Toronto
Sep 11-13: Permissionless II, Austin
Sep 25-26: European Blockchain Convention, Barcelona
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