The article discusses the "Big 4" cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC)—that have been recognized by traditional finance as significant assets for institutional adoption, potentially influencing a 2024 bull run.
Abstract
The landscape of cryptocurrency is undergoing a significant shift with the endorsement of four major cryptocurrencies by the finance sector. These cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), are poised to be the focus of institutional investment and adoption. The SEC has provided clarity by not classifying these assets as securities, which is crucial for their inclusion in regulated exchanges. This decision is expected to have a profound impact on the market, as trillions of dollars from finance giants like Citadel, BlackRock, and Fidelity are likely to flow into these cryptocurrencies. While Ethereum's shift to proof-of-stake has raised some regulatory concerns, its widespread adoption by financial institutions makes it unlikely to be classified as a security. The article also touches on the illusion of decentralization promoted by other blockchains and emphasizes the need for cryptocurrencies to have real utility beyond the financial elite to avoid being dismissed as failed experiments.
Opinions
The author suggests that the SEC's clarity on BTC, BCH, ETH, and LTC not being securities is a significant step towards institutional adoption.
There is an opinion that finance entering the cryptocurrency space with substantial capital will not risk adopting unregistered securities.
The article implies that Ethereum's status as a non-security is solidified by the investments of top financial institutions, despite its recent consensus mechanism change.
The author criticizes other blockchain projects for promoting the illusion of decentralization and deceiving investors.
The SEC's regulatory clarity is seen as a hint of what the market considers valid cryptocurrencies, emphasizing the importance of utility.
The author believes that cryptocurrencies should serve not only the financial elite but also the broader population as censorship-resistant digital cash.
Finance has decided not just to include cryptocurrencies but also which ones will be.
These are:
Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Ethereum (ETH)
Litecoin (LTC)
From now on, this table is what matters.
Everything else comes with the risk of getting delisted by regulated exchanges.
Finance that enters cryptocurrency with trillions of dollars will not risk adopting unregistered securities.
BTC, Bitcoin Cash, Ether and Litecoin are the four cryptocurrencies Gary Gensler specified as “not being securities” in his 2018 MIT lecture.
Regulators have decided. They wouldn’t want to mess with top funds that plan to enter cryptocurrency. Regulators delivered clarity.
Ethereum is still at risk after it altered the consensus procedure into proof-of-stake. The regulators will probably require more time for Ether, although, it will be impossible to designate Ethereum as a security when top financial institutions already invested in it.
Finance is rolling out the big guns this time.
Citadel, BlackRock, Fidelity, the banks, funds, and fintech corporations enter a race to offer cryptocurrency investments.
Perhaps trillions of dollars will flow into crypto.
The SEC has decided that Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash are not securities. As said previously, we still have to keep our eyes on Ethereum, as Gary Gensler recently avoided answering questions regarding Ethereum when asked at a Congress hearing this April (2023).
BTC, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Ethereum are usually included by funds and corporations when adopting cryptocurrency and offering investing options to their customers.
Can regulators reverse this decision when the new institutional exchange EDX listed only these four, assuming the SEC decided they are not securities? Apparently, such a decision would create several issues.
The SEC will not risk damaging its credibility (further). Moreover, the cryptocurrency industry was the one asking the financial authorities to provide regulatory clarity.
We have two worlds colliding today, crypto and traditional finance. Yet, several cryptocurrencies (blockchains, tokens, projects, custodians) are simply tokens and blockchains controlled by private companies.
Solana, Cardano, Polygon, Polkadot, BNB, and several more blockchain structures (Ethereum clones), operate with a small team or private company controlling the network.
The teams issue native tokens and sell them in presales, ICOs, and private placements. This is how private companies operate, not decentralized cryptocurrencies.
The worse of all was the illusion of decentralization they promoted. They just marketed blockchain and played with words convincing their investors they were buying trustless and censorship-resistant networks.
They used deceptive practices and lured investors into networks that sometimes were not even ready.
In Conclusion
Finance decided, but finance is not the people.
Perhaps Ethereum could become a high-cost institutional settlement platform with smart contracts and DeFi for banking.
Bitcoin BTC, probably nobody knows yet, although Saylor has given some intelligent use cases with institutional use cases for accounting purposes.
Besides the use cases for the financial elite, another 8 billion people out there need censorship-resistant digital cash.
The decision of the SEC to bring regulatory clarity gives us a hint of what the actual market considers valid cryptocurrencies.
Decentralized or not, if cryptocurrencies contain no utility, they will eventually be forgotten and dismissed as failed experiments.
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