SEC targets Robinhood Crypto for securities law breaches

A revealing study co-developed by Visa, the global payments giant, has uncovered that over 90% of stablecoin transactions, a staggering $2.2 trillion in April alone, originate from bots and large-scale traders rather than genuine users.

Moonbirds, an Ethereum NFT collection acquired by Yuga Labs in February, has found itself embroiled in a copyright controversy that exposes the flaws in the crypto world’s obsession with intellectual property (IP). Yuga Labs’ plan to grant Moonbirds NFT holders exclusive commercial rights was hindered by the collection’s prior Creative Commons 0 filing, which had already released the owl characters into the public domain.

Today’s Newsletter

• SEC targets Robinhood Crypto for alleged securities law breaches
• Visa reveals 90% of stablecoin transactions are done by bots and big traders
• Moonbirds copyright controversy exposes flaws in crypto’s IP obsession

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REGULATION

SEC targets Robinhood Crypto for alleged securities law breaches

Robinhood’s chief legal officer, Dan Gallagher, a former SEC commissioner himself, expressed disappointment at the agency’s decision, firmly believing that the assets listed on their platform do not constitute securities.

Despite the company’s efforts to work with regulators and avoid listing potentially problematic tokens, the SEC’s preliminary determination has put Robinhood in its crosshairs. With the lack of clear federal guidelines on what constitutes a security or a commodity in the digital asset space, companies like Robinhood have been left to navigate a patchwork of state regulations. [ cryptobriefing ]

STABLECOINS

Visa reveals 90% of stablecoin transactions are done by bots and big traders

The analysis, which isolated organic payments activity by removing transactions from bots and major traders, discovered that a mere $149 billion of the total $2.2 trillion in stablecoin transactions came from real people in April. Despite this discrepancy, the study noted a steady increase in monthly active stablecoin users across all blockchain networks, reaching 27.5 million.

The Visa study comes at a time when stablecoins are under increasing scrutiny, with major companies like PayPal announcing plans to issue their own stablecoins and US lawmakers considering legislation to regulate this rapidly growing sector of the crypto market. As stablecoins gain prominence and integrate further with traditional finance, understanding the true nature of their usage and the role of automated trading becomes crucial for informed decision-making by industry stakeholders. [ cryptobriefing ]

NFTs

Moonbirds copyright controversy exposes flaws in crypto’s IP obsession

Yuga Labs’ co-founder and CEO, Greg “Garga” Solano, attempted to clarify the situation by stating that the commercial rights would only be attached to new, 3D versions of the Moonbirds artwork, which would be given exclusively to current NFT holders.

The Moonbirds controversy underscores the ambiguity of IP in the crypto world and the critical distinction between copyright and trademark law. Scholars contend that NFT-based commercial ventures depend on brand recognition rather than individual NFT copyrights, highlighting the potential drawbacks of the industry’s fixation on IP. [ decrypt ]

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