Stablecoins as securities could spell ‘Armageddon’ for crypto, says Robert Leshner

Episode 11 of Season 5 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Compound Labs Founder Robert Leshner.

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US financial regulators are conducting a coordinated front against certain crypto companies in what Compound Labs Founder Robert Leshner says is a "planned set of product takedowns."

One particular case to watch is the SEC's potential suit against Paxos over its BUSD stablecoin, which the SEC is alleging is an unregistered security. According to Leshner, this case is of particular importance given the precedent it could set for the billion-dollar stablecoin industry:

"If there's an argument that USDC and Tether are securities and this winds up being contested over months and years, if it doesn't go the right way, I think it's an Armageddon scenario for a lot of crypto."

During this episode, Chaparro and Leshner also discuss:

  • The trade-offs between CeFi vs. DeFi risks
  • How to refine decentralized governance
  • Why crypto is set to flourish off-shore

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Circle, Railgun, Flare Network

About Circle
Circle is a global financial technology company helping money move at internet speed. Our mission is to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value. Visit Circle.com/Scoop to learn more.

About Railgun
Railgun is a private DeFi solution on Ethereum, BSC, Arbitrum and Polygon. Shield any ERC-20 token and any NFT into a Private Balance and let Railgun’s zero-knowledge cryptography encrypt your address, balance and transaction history. You can also bring privacy to your project with Railgun SDK, and be sure to check out Railgun with partner project Railway Wallet, also available on iOS and Android. Visit Railgun.org to find out more.

About Flare
Flare is an EVM-based Layer 1 blockchain designed to allow developers to build applications that can use data from other blockchains and the internet. By providing decentralized access to a wide variety of high-integrity data from other blockchains and the internet, Flare enables new use cases and monetization models. Build better and connect everything at Flare.Network.


© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Authors

Davis Quinton is the Director of Podcasts at The Block and runs our flagship podcast called The Scoop, hosted by Frank Chaparro. Since joining The Block as an 'intern' in early 2022, he has worked closely with leaders across departments to translate The Block's written content into engaging multimedia formats. He holds a degree in Social Research & Public Policy from New York University in Abu Dhabi and is based in Sydney, Australia.
Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].

Editor

To contact the editor of this story:
Lucy Harley-McKeown at
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