7th February 2024 > > XMR & Janet Yellen.

tl;dr

Avoid privacy coins for your own benefit. Arthur Hayes agrees with the CCC. Janet Yellen comes up trumps.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

We will talk a little more about Haley tomorrow but for now the new-borns keep buying, and the miners keep selling to beef up their hashrate ahead of April’s halving.

Occasional Series – It’s a bit personal

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Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – XMR (Monero)

We have talked about the risks of holding privacy coins before, and my advice – for what it’s worth – is “don’t”.

Privacy coins are a target for the regulator’s ire and the taxman’s greed. If you have ever owned any of the gamut of privacy coins then put all the details in a spreadsheet and send it to HMRC today (more on this topic later), otherwise you are inviting a whole lot of investigation which will take time, energy, and frankly money, because none of us are perfect.

Meanwhile, if you remain unconvinced, this is the overnight price action of XMR following the news that Binance is to delist this coin for regulatory reasons:

The CC Treasury Committee decided to sell all privacy coins two to three years ago. That was a very wise decision.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Janet Yellen part 1

You may not have noticed but the CCC research team has a sceptical bias against bureaucracy and those that profit from such norms.

Janet Yellen, US Secretary to the Treasury, would appear to be the embodiment of a technocrat, though I applaud her desire to continue working in a stressful job at the tender age of 77. I know of people in their early 40s who gave up working to leech off others and then milk the benefits system, but that’s enough about my ex-wife.

I came across this article by Arthur Hayes just yesterday which is not particularly friendly towards Janet, but which goes into some more detail about some of the recent themes in the CCC, notably BTFP and the Houthis:

https://cryptohayes.substack.com/p/yellen-or-talkin

Arthur is well known for banging on about stuff, but he is always an entertaining read. Please note that though he is right about the impact of shutting down BTFP, he is wrong about the timing. As the CCC told you on 3rd February this year, March 11th next year is the date to watch out for.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Janet Yellen part 2

Yesterday during a legislative hearing, Janet reiterated her desire for clear and concise regulation for the crypto industry, a stance somewhat at odds with the Chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler:

“… we’ve identified some gaps where, for consumer investor protection and to address financial stability risk, it would be useful for Congress to take action to fill those gaps.”

Gensler’s position is that there are no gaps, but his credibility gets ever more strained by the day.

Janet also made an interesting proposition that I had not heard before:

“A federal regulator should have the ability to decide if a stablecoin issuer should be barred from issuing such an asset.”

One of the major concerns for the CCC has been the lack of visibility around stablecoins, and USDT (Tether) in particular. I need not go over that old ground again, but the risk to the crypto sphere if USDT or a major competitor followed the same path as we saw with an algorithmic stablecoin in the past is just too scary to contemplate.

There are several bills impacting crypto regulation awaiting approval or rejection in the two houses, and little progress was expected before this year’s election. If Janet’s intervention shifts the logjam before November, the world will be a better place.