30s Summary

Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, hopes for eased cryptocurrency regulations from the U.S. SEC following Trump’s re-election. Grewal and others in the crypto space find current rules overly stringent and lawsuits excessive. Trump has promised to end the previous administration’s ‘anti-crypto agenda’ and plans to dismiss SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has pursued legal action against major crypto companies including Coinbase. Grewal suggests clearer guidelines, while names like pro-crypto SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce are being floated as potential replacements for Gensler. However, Coinbase recently faced criticism over accusations of high listing fees for tokens.

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Paul Grewal, the top law guy at Coinbase, is really hoping that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will start being a bit more chill about crypto now that Donald Trump has been re-elected.

Grewal, among others in the crypto community, feel like the SEC is being a little too harsh with their regulations. They’re hoping for a conversation around the rules, instead of just being slapped with lawsuits left and right.

Trump’s re-election could bring about some changes, especially as he’s planning to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler. So, the future of crypto in the U.S could be changing significantly.

During his election campaign, Trump made a promise to focus on bringing the nation together and to end what he believes was the previous administration’s ‘anti-crypto agenda’. One part of this promise includes firing Gensler on his first day in the office.

Under Gensler’s time in charge, the SEC has landed heavy on several big crypto names, like Coinbase and Uniswap, through legal actions. But Grewal argues that without any clear guidelines, it’s difficult for crypto businesses to know what they need to comply with. He believes more set-in-stone rules could solve this issue.

There’s been a bit of chat around who might replace Gensler, with a few names popping up who might be a bit more lenient on the crypto industry. Take Hester Peirce for instance, an SEC Commissioner who’s known for being pro-crypto. She’s even been given the nickname ‘Crypto Mom’ by the crypto community. Peirce has been pretty vocal about the over-the-top enforcement approach from the SEC and thinks that clearer regulations for crypto would do everyone a favor and help the U.S. have a better spot in the global digital finance world.

But while we’re on the topic of needing more clarity from SEC, Coinbase has been catching some heat for allegedly asking for high fees to list tokens. Tron founder Justin Sun said that Coinbase asked for $300 million in fees to list the Tron token, which goes against what Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong claims – that listing on Coinbase is free.