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Bill Hughes : wchughes.eth 🦊
@BillHughesDC
Lawyer at ConsenSys / formerly DOJ, WH, S&C, UVA law, Vandy / Not legal advice - not your lawyer - tweets are mine. Win and help win. WAGMI
Washington, DCJoined October 2018

Bill Hughes : wchughes.eth 🦊’s Tweets

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I was flattered to be asked by to write about something, anything about crypto and the year ahead. I couldn’t think of a topic that deserves more attention than user safety on-chain. Innovators who make strides here will lead the ecosystem and bolster adoption. HNY
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If crypto does not prioritize user safety, then regulators will on the industry's behalf. @ConsenSys' @BillHughesDC writes about the technological and social changes that could keep users funds safe. #crypto2023, presented by @bitstamp trib.al/oirfz3x
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If it was all on chain we wouldn’t be so easily gaslit. One can dream.
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Last month US *unadjusted* payrolls dropped by 2.5 million jobs. After a "seasonal adjustment" of +3 million, the economy is booming! Woo hoo! These economic numbers now produce more noise than signal -- like everything else out of Washington, DC.
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Noway Nope GIF
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This is pretty big... Digital asset itself in secondary sale is not a security, even when original sale constituted a security. "Deaton persuaded the judge that LBC’s secondary market transactions were not securities." cointelegraph.com/news/sec-settl via @cointelegraph
If you want evidence that blockchain analytics and well trained sleuths get results going after criminals, look no further than Zach.
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1/ I am very happy to share the FBI seized crypto, BAYC 9658, AP watch, and Doodle 3114 from the phishing scammer known as Horror (HZ) aka Chase Senecal as a result of my thread.
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Would be shocking if they weren’t. Does NOT mean that criminal conduct will be found, mind you.
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From ace Bloomberg reporter, Tom Schoenberg: US prosecutors in the Justice Department’s fraud unit are looking into Silvergate’s dealings with FTX and Alameda Research bloomberg.com/news/articles/ @Tschoenberg22
To sum up, I'm kinda impressed with this. It's early and there are a lot of details to be worked out, but this looks promising in light of how some other regulators in other jurisdictions have been inclined to act. Now, we all know what we got to do. [END THREAD]
Sir Patrick Stewart Engage GIF
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The consultation makes clear that the ecosystem includes various activities and business models with different risks and opportunities with no single approach to regulation that can fit all types. To tackle this, the principle of "same risk, same regulatory outcome" is applied.
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The Treasury also states that the proposed reg framework is not intended to impose regs on any underlying non-financial services activity which a cryptoasset might be used for. If the activity is non-financial it may be covered by other laws or regs, e.g. fraud statutes.
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The government has already confirmed that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will not be in scope of the cryptoassets financial promotions regime, since NFTs can represent a wide array of different assets which might constitute non-financial services products. (Precisely 👏👏👏)
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They say the “objective is not to regulate the activity of developing software, but if software developers go on to maintain, run and operate systems used for regulated financial activities (e.g. exchange, lending) then they should be subject to financial services regulation.”
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Overall, Treasury is proposing the same regulatory *outcomes* across comparable "DeFi" and "CeFi" activities, but likely through a different set of regulatory tools, and different timelines. (Ed. note: that's the right framing, although the devil is in the details re "outcomes")
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The consultation contains a call for evidence on #DeFi. The Treasury is pushing for a tech neutral approach and is of the view that the regulatory outcomes should apply to cryptoasset activities regardless of the underlying technology, infrastructure, or governance mechanisms.
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🇬🇧🚨🚨🚨HM Treasury of the United Kingdom published its much anticipated consultation on cryptoasset regulation. The plans seek to regulate a broad range of cryptoasset activities. TLDR: generally👍 🧵👇
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So we are clear, the court’s analysis PRESUMES that all the tokens at issue ARE securities. So no ticker tape parade, people.
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Big victory for @coinbase today. The court has dismissed all claims (fed w/ prejudice, state w/o) in a putative class action alleging Coinbase offered unregistered securities w/o registration as a securities exchange or broker dealer. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco
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So the 3400 ETH that was moved out of that sanctioned address on Feb 7, 2022 came to rest in another wallet on July 8, 2022. The total of 5,462 ETH in that wallet is just sitting there. That wallet isn't sanctioned. I don't hope to understand
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The SEC doesn't accuse people of crimes and doesn't bring prosecutions. I'm failing to see what is confusing about that. The vast majority of laws are NOT criminal laws. Most regulators enforce civil laws - it is not even close in terms of civil v. criminal.
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It is just WILD that a handful of basically unknown people make semi educated guesses about the future on which they base the availability of money which dictates whether entire economies expand or contract, and everyone is just like “Cool. Well, tell us what you guys decide.”
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Fed deliberations over how much more to raise rates will hinge on how much they expect the economy to slow. I.E. how long are the policy lags? “We're in a different world... The last several cycles haven’t had pandemics and land wars in Europe in them.” wsj.com/articles/how-q
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Abe is on the forefront of the staking taxation issue. The position he has been advocating for is one the entire staking space needs to understand and support. Staking taxation will be a real challenge for everyday US users otherwise.
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The IRS is wrong. New cryptocurrency tokens from staking are not taxable income. Congress can and should fix the tax code to make this clear. Keep taxation fair -- end overtaxation and the compliance nightmare. My latest in @taxnotestaxnotes.co/3DllssT
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