1st August July 2025 > > Crypto Project & Coinbase.
- Mark Timmis
- Aug 1
- 3 min read
tl;dr
Project Crypto is now underway, which will revolutionise the legal and regulatory landscape in the US. Coinbase probably does itself no regulatory favours in the UK.
Market Snap
Market Wrap
The latest instalment of Trump’s tariff wars seemed to catch equities and cryptos by surprise. I believe he had loudly advertised August 1st as the deadline, but maybe my memory is not what it used to be. The pattern seems to be – announce tariffs, risk assets dip in a minor fashion, then reduce and embed new tariffs in trade deals completed on a timescale deemed impossibly short to the tune of years or more by the bureaucrats, and risk assets rally harder than the sell-off.
If we play to the same tune again when these additional tariffs are partially removed, that raises an interesting conundrum – if barriers to trade are higher than before, conventional thinking tells us that risk assets should be lower than before. Worth pondering, perhaps?
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Project Crypto
Just in case anyone was in any doubt that the SEC is now crypto friendly, Chair Paul Atkins has announced Project Crypto.
The SEC has already made great strides since Trump’s inauguration day on which previous Chair Gary Gensler resigned to start building his own personal crypto stash. In no particular order, these are some of Paul’s achievements so far:
i) Rescinding SAB 121.
ii) Publicly disowning regulation by enforcement.
iii) Publicly admitting that the SEC had previously exceeded its mandate.
iv) Giving approval for in-kind creations and redemptions for spot crypto ETFs.
v) Greenlighting staking within spot crypto ETFs.
vi) Engaging constructively for spot crypto ETFs apart from just BTC and ETH.
vii) Confirming he wants to achieve Trump’s vision to make America the “crypto capital of the planet”.
viii) Supporting the U.S. rejection of a dollar CBDC, the tool of oppression favoured by despots and others worldwide (Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and Convicted Criminal Christine Lagarde).
His speech can be read in full here:
For those too busy, perhaps a few highlights are all you need to understand the direction of travel:
“… I am launching Project Crypto and directing the SEC’s policy divisions to work with the Crypto Task Force, led by Commissioner Peirce, to swiftly develop proposals to implement the PWG’s recommendations.”
We looked at the Crypto Task Force and its musings in detail earlier this year. All good stuff, as one would expect with Commissioner Hester Peirce managing that project.
“Many of the Commission’s legacy rules and regulations do not make sense in the twenty-first century – let alone for on-chain markets. The Commission must revamp its rulebook so that regulatory moats do not hinder progress and competition – from both new entrants and incumbents – to the detriment of Main Street.”
The contrast on that point alone between Gensler and Paul is as stark as they come. Gensler clung to the notion that a court judgement handed down in 1946 regarding the sale of citrus groves in Florida is applicable to today’s cryptos, which is clearly utter nonsense in anyone’s world.
And what about this humdinger:
“Despite what the SEC has said in the past, most crypto assets are not securities “.
There is only one conclusion to draw, which I do not need to spell out for you.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Coinbase advert
There is no doubt that there is zero political will from any party or any politician in the UK to accept, let alone embrace, the crypto revolution.
It is possible that there is little appetite from the public in the UK for cryptos. After all, of the last two politicians to publicly express support (though I suspect both were lying through their teeth), one suffered the largest electoral humiliation ever, and the other is about to (allegedly) end up in a Bangladeshi jail, though I concede that perhaps there were other actions of theirs that inevitably led to those outcomes.
We will be all the poorer for such disdain for cryptos from our political and bureaucratic elite, but it is what it is. Coinbase probably doesn’t help to curry favour with this advert:
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