Following their launch in 2024, the regulator's Division of Examinations specifically listed spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds as one of its goals.
Even if its government authority and leadership may change, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again listed cryptocurrencies as one of its top examination objectives for the upcoming year.
The SEC's Division of Examinations published its 2025 priorities, which include cryptocurrency assets and their "associated products and services," in a notification dated October 21.
The regulator stated that it intended to concentrate on the "offer, sale, recommendation, advice, trading, and other activities involving crypto assets," specifically mentioning spot exchange-traded products with Bitcoin BTC tickers down $67,909 and Ether ETH tickers down $2,489.16.
The SEC expressed: "The Division will proceed to screen and, when fitting, conduct examinations of registrants advertising crypto asset-related administrations, given the instability and movement including the crypto resource markets."
"In order to address the technological risks associated with the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology, including risks related to the security of crypto assets, the Division will evaluate registrant practices."
The list of needs distinguished "key zones of possibly expanded dangers and related hurt for speculators," agreeing to Keith Cassidy, the SEC's Acting Chief of the Division of Examinations. This proposes that the commission will not alter its technique with respect to computerized resources in 2025.
Citing the necessity of protecting investors and promoting capital formation, chair Gary Gensler stated that the division would assist players in "understanding the rules."
Spot crypto ETFs were added, which was a departure from the regulator's 2024 examination goals. Spot BTC and spot ETH exchange-traded products were originally authorized by the SEC in January and May, respectively.
Has the leadership changed?
Many experts have speculated that Gensler may depart the SEC in January 2025 when a new presidential administration assumes power, even though his tenure is set to expire in June 2026.
Republican nominee Donald Trump promised to fire the SEC head "on day one" if reelected at a July Bitcoin conference, and there have been rumors that Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris was also considering possible successors.
Since the SEC brought multiple lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies, claiming unregistered securities offerings, many have criticized the agency's "regulation by enforcement" strategy under Gensler. Even though the US Supreme Court's June ruling invalidating the long-standing Chevron theory may have legal ramifications for the SEC going forward, the agency still has lawsuits against Coinbase, Ripple, and other companies ongoing.
Recap of X Spaces using Nayms: Unlocking insurance as a liquid asset class
Insurance has long been viewed as an illiquid asset, but blockchain is changing that. A reinsurance marketplace was developed using a blockchain-based technology to promote openness and accessibility.
Due to its versatility, blockchain technology is being used more and more in the insurance industry. Indeed, by 2031, the global blockchain insurance market is predicted to reach a valuation of $32.9 billion.
"The highly uncorrelated asset class of insurance is now available to the capital markets, particularly the digital markets. When talking about blockchain-based insurance and his startup at a recent Cointelegraph X Spaces, Dan Roberts, co-founder and CEO of Nayms, stated, "They have tokenized treasury bills, money market funds, and private credit." To put that money to work, the industry has tokenized reinsurance as a fairly reliable yielding product. It is a well developed asset class that is currently accessible, whether it is in a bull market or a bad market.
Roberts highlights how conservative the insurance sector is and thinks blockchain is a natural fit to increase openness in the sector. The landscape is mainly closed, and it's not obvious where the capital is. Those who wish to take part in the trillions of dollars in premiums that are written annually face extremely high entry hurdles. Additionally, a lot of fraud is occurring, with claims being made using ambiguous collateral. Blockchain is therefore ideal for guaranteeing the verifiability of capital.
Property catastrophe, specialty lines, and risks associated with digital assets are the three main insurance categories that Nayms focuses on. Through its regulated onchain insurance marketplace, which treats insurance as a liquid asset class, the company permits investment in smart contract underwrites, which offer coverage for risks associated with cryptocurrencies.
Roberts emphasizes that "Nayms is reinsurance-focused, not insurance-focused." Through our marketplace, we enable our partners and other industry participants to unload their risk, enabling them to write an increasing amount of coverage. It's a straightforward method of raising the overall boundaries and danger that the digital asset market can take.
"For example, completely new reporting lines to many different companies," Roberts says, adding that he thinks transparency may be the key to creating an atmosphere where many ideas and breakthroughs can be produced. It's not a good method to promote liquidity and capital market involvement if you're changing a business that creates these types of segregated accounts for customers and then reports on their behavior every two to six months.
The Nayms marketplace's governance token, NAYM, was introduced in October 2024. It capitalizes the Nayms Liquidity Facility (NLF), which makes investments in insurance schemes and gives tokenholders a portion of any profits. In addition to contributing funds, NAYM holders have the ability to actively participate in platform governance through staking, proposal voting, and important decisions that affect the marketplace's direction.
He was enthusiastic about the possibilities of cross-chain interoperability in the future. The CEO predicted, "We're on Ethereum and Base right now, and I definitely expect to be on a number of different chains in the near future." In addition to improving the user interface, cross-chain interoperability and chain abstraction foster a greater feeling of community. On a given chain, people can now unite around specific insurance program subsets. They can construct their own version instead of having to go to one where it's already built. All of this flows into a single asset class, and you can practically picture a friendly rivalry to see who can create a larger pool on a specific chain. Naturally, reinsurance in our situation.
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