🗽🇺🇸Will America own all of Ethereum?

Morning Doston,

And swagath to Switch Daily. 👋

Wasssuup? How are we doing today? Bearish market boring you down? Well, fold your sleeves and listen up; what we’re about to discuss today will get your jaw dropping like this.

Here’s what we’ve got for you:

• Market pulse

• SEC’s bizarre claim

• Garama garam news

• Meme of the day

Market pulse 📈

The market is tired after the weekend’s action 🥱

It was a mixed session for the crypto market yesterday as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and other top coins traded flat. XRP bucked the trend with over 8% gains, at its highest yesterday, due to optimism regarding the outcome of the Ripple vs. SEC case. Nasdaq-100 also failed to deliver support to the crypto market, ending the day lower by 0.95%.

Today will be a crucial day for the market with the upcoming Fed policy decision and Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) projection. A rate hike of 75 bps will not be surprising, but any more than that will impact market sentiment negatively. 

Gary says Crypto = Securities 🙀

Wait, who’s Gary?🤨

Gary Gensler is the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the US — much like SEBI in India, this board keeps a check on market manipulators.

So, Gary from the SEC made a bizarre claim that after the Merge, all cryptocurrencies running on the PoS model, including Ethereum, should be treated as securities.🙄 Prolly why Ethereum tanked big time after the Merge.

Just when folks shunned it to be a run-of-the-mill moment, the SEC filed a lawsuit against a crypto influencer Ian Balina for not registering a cryptocurrency as security before raising an ICO way back in 2018.

Now, what does Ian have to do with Ethereum being a security? Not much, but in the fine print of the lawsuit, the SEC basically said that all transactions on Ethereum fall under the US government’s purview. Whaaatt? Shut up!

But how can they make such a huge claim? On what grounds?

According to Gary, mostly these three factors:

1. Staking involves pledging cryptocurrencies to earn interest, a.k.a passive income. 

2. A majority (~45%) of Ethereum nodes are situated in the US; hence all global Ethereum transactions are considered to fall under the US purview.

3. Broadly based on the Howey test. (not our Big Bang Theory, Howey, this is a different one). The Howey Test is used to determine whether a particular investment qualifies as a security.

It's like saying, I bought a painting for ₹5,000. Since it was sitting idly, I rented it to a museum which paid some money for letting them use it. Now that I am earning passive income on the painting, so it is a security. 🤭

But if the SEC manages to classify Ethereum as a security, they will have full authority over every transaction made on its blockchain. Ether tokens will have to meet "strict requirements on registration, disclosure, and accreditation of investors" PLUS—this is important—unregistered entities (crypto exchanges) cannot list Ether.

Well, that’s decentralization to trash, right? Also, we may be looking at a whole new tax treatment for all PoS-based transactions. 

But again, this is just Gary’s claim. And the SEC also has not taken an official stance on whether Ethereum is a security. So we will have to wait and see how this plays out. Fingers crossed. 🤞🏽

Aur Batao! 🔊

⚡THNDR launches P2E Bitcoin Solitaire game

THNDR Games, a Bitcoin gaming company, released a play-to-earn (P2E) version of the popular card game Solitaire called Club Bitcoin: Solitaire. The aim is to increase Bitcoin adoption across the world. Read more.

🐼Panda DAO proposes dissolution over internal issues

Panda DAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, revealed plans to dissolve itself in a seven-point referendum, citing management issues. The announcement made on 19 September also said that it plans to return assets to investors even as crypto winter wears on. Read more. 

🏆Solana leapfrogs ETH in transactions

Reports suggest that Solana (SOL) outperformed Ethereum (ETH) in terms of daily transactions, with more than 40 million vs. 1 million for Ethereum. Read more. 

🥷Another day, another DeFi hack; $160 million lost

Wintermute, a leading global crypto market, has reportedly lost $160 million in a hack related to its DeFi operation. For perspective, the firm was named the official DeFi market maker for the Tron network last week. Read more.

Meme for the Mid-week blues

Well, that's a wrap for today!

See you tomorrow! 👋🏽

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